Torchwood

Is anyone else less than impressed with the new series of Torchwood?

Leaked Footage From Breaking Dawn

Two words about what you can expect from this film:

SOFT PORN

The Hour

“The Hour” has been slashed by many reviewers which I feel is unfair. Ok it shouldn’t have been billed as something compared to “Mad Men” because it's not American and thus it is going to contain some ugly people.  Also unlike “Mad Men” it has probably been made for a tenth of the price.

Ignoring the “Mad Men” comment I find “The Hour” a well acted, interesting programme that is nice enough, not special but nice which for the BBC at the moment is like saying it is a piece of Shakespeare (have you watched “Tonights the Night”?). It’s worth a watch when the only other thing on at ten in Britain is “Smallville”.

Please give us your verdict and give us a comment.



Mr Poppers Penguins

I saw a poster for “Mr Poppins Penguins” today and all I can say is- oh how the mighty fall. It seems that Jim Carrey's career is dead and buried and he himself by signing up to such crap film is simply digging himself a bigger hole.

Now don't get me wrong Jim Carrey can’t exactly be stated as being mighty or ever having been mighty.  In a way he is worse than Marmite because at least half of people “love it” where as Carey should simply be content with being liked in a few specific instances. Those that do like him may well not be annoyed with his okish performances in, for example, “Bruce Almighty” or the “Ace Ventura” films which were admittedly not his worst work (which says a lot about his career).  

Look at the past couple of years meanwhile and it seems that we are now left with Jim Carrey's name being on the strap line filling us with the same amount of certainty about the films credentials as if it was (for example) Jennifer Anniston’s name (this you can take as a reference to “Horrible Bosses”. Ergh!).

All I can say about this new film is it will surely add to Jim Carrey's collection of ever worsening films (I mean have you tried to sit through “Yes Men”?). The fact that this film has penguin’s means I am expecting “Alvin and the Chipmunks” crossed with “Happy Feet” and a splash of normal teeth grindingly, slice my neck open inducing Jim Carrey.   

The Avengers

Avengers excitement has reached fever pitch with the couple of second preview trailer recently released (I will let you find it on YouTube). Now with the film’s release just about a year away nothing but a few snippets have been giving away mainly because they are still filming but from the few shots that have been given all you really need to know is- Robert Downey Jr.

Now “Ironman” if you haven’t already watched is by far and without a shadow of a doubt (that’s a lie- the doubt being the major amount of political mumbo jumbo about terrorists and what have you) the greatest superhero film to date. Robert Downey Jr manages to  define the word “cool” with his fantasmic  portrayal of one of the more human superheroes (even though I would define him as a half god- he is that cool). I kind of think though it is going to be very easy for Robert Downey Jr's character to eclipse the more silent, brooding superheroes that make up the rest of The AVENGERS- unfortunately I do not care if this happens because I love the dude.

I hope that the producers behind “The Avengers” listen to me when they think about less is more. You see when it comes to trailers the most important thing is to give away just enough to excite but not enough to spoil the actual watching of the film. Of course I am speaking on death ears for this is going to be like every other American blockbuster and it is going to be sold for all its worth- but hopefully it retains some of the flare that “Ironman” and “Ironman 2” had, and doesn’t go the way of... lets call it the “large, green man film” (I think like actors with Macbeth or as they say “The Scottish Play” a great curse will befull anything involved with the “H” word).

Anyway I really cannot wait.

The Dark Knight Rises- First Thoughts

Having recently watched “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part Two” for the second time, on this occasion in the BFI IMAX- which coincidently is a must do- I have had opportunity to watch the first trailer for the final film in the DARK KNIGHT trilogy. All I can say is “The Dark Knight Rises” looks interesting.

It must be said that the word “interesting” is in this instance used to convey a polite confusion. I cannot be rude because of Christopher Nolan's past efforts when it comes to de-camping the history of Batman on screen.  Please pause for a moment to remember the tight brief pants Batman and Robin wear in the original tv series of the same title, then glimpse over the rest of the films in the Clooney, Burton, splattered history of the man who dresses up like a bat.

Nolan's films cannot be considered perfect though; no in fact quite the opposite can be said. “Batman Begins” was a troubling affair with the awkwardness of the over mythical and ideological sense of the entire piece. The film though was fair, in the sense that it was plain simple and earnest with a story line that was almost easy to follow.

“The Dark Knight” meanwhile was terrible, a mismatch of a story that was beyound confusing. The length of it made it dull. The fact that Katie Holmes couldn't be bothered to return to play her part as the love interest, Rachel Dawes said a lot. The only truly brilliant thing in the film was Heath Ledger as THE JOKER. Ledger was beyond brilliant and his premature death has given a legendary nature to this role and thus this film.

The problem is now we are left with a film three which cannot be bigger or better than those previous. Coming into the next film we have been left with the love interest having been killed off- so in comes Anne Hathaway who admittedly had her best role in “Princess Diaries”. The best, or should I say worst, villain has already dealt the blow- who can they get to be more menacing or indeed any more of a challenge than the ultimate super villain.

FINAL WORD

I am interested to see how Nolan manages to covey this shouldn’t but must be film.

Harry Potter - A Review

So the greatest film franchise has finally come to an end. Will it be the last we hear of the boy wizard, I doubt it.

The new film was quite possibly one of the finest out the series. David Yates managed to compose a film that was well flowing and less clunky than if he had simply followed JK Rowling’s description (no offence JK). The battle scenes made sense with most scenes stuck together beautifully. No major parts of the book were cut and I can find little complaint when looking at it in comparison to some of the lesser films of the series.

It was brilliant to see the vast array of cast that prove Britain makes em like no other: Maggi Smith who was beyond brilliant as per usual, Robbi Coltrane doesn’t do sobbery as well as he does comedy but who am I to complain for we all love Hagrid, Ralph Fiennes may have divorced River Song/Elizabeth Corday but everything is forgiven for this most brilliant portrayal of Voldy, Alan Rickman made me cry, Matthew Lewis is a wonderful Neville (although saw him in a play and the idea is to project your voice not shout), Tom Felton should have had his redeeming moment at the end and Draco should have stayed with the Hogwarts students, Gambon is a legend even if he’s playing a dead dude, Evanna Lynch has some weird accent going on but she is as much Luna as Rupert Grint is Ron,  Wawrick Davies does Flitwick and Griphook sublimely, Jason Issacs- I love you as much as Mark Kermode (if you don’t know who this is you are an idiot), Helana Bonham Carter you deserve an Oscar for your volume of work you are amazing in everything (including “Planet of the Apes” which no offence to your husband- if you read this which I doubt you will- is a pile of rubbish that should have been left well alone), I could go on but just look on IMDB for the list of cast and put “was brilliant” next to their name and  you get the picture.

I guess I will have to mention the trio so here goes: Daniel Radcliffe was better than in any of the other films (aka he did an ok job).  Rupert Grint was fantastic and I am very interested to see how his career progresses for I think he is going to have a good future. Emma Watson is Hermione it is hard to tell if she is acting or just playing herself but she did a good job.

The film did have some poor moments admittedly; the epilogue is one big gleaming example. The epilogue is by far one of the lesser points of the books, almost childish in the writing sense, being in the book I guess it was necessary to be included in the film so I can’t truly complain. I feel that Yates again did the best he could but I feel that the acting of Daniel Radcliffe and the fact that ageing him up just made him look twentyish failed the whole thing. I think it would have been less ruined if they had used forty year old actors to take their places. Luckily the scene was kept short and sweet and was a moment in which to stop crying before the cinema lights went on and embarrassment was thus avoided through cringing at Radcliffe.

Other slight faults include a little too much happiness at the end of the battle. If you had just lost your son, would you be prepared to smile and gleam at Harry Potter whether or not he had just killed Voldermort; Molly Weasly certainly beamed. Yates maybe could have understood the grieve of his characters slightly.

Also” Neville, Neville, Neville” you were standing right next to the snake with the sword but you felt it necessary to make a big dramatic talk when you could have just chopped off his head. Yates should have made the length between Neville and the snake greater if he wanted his chase sequence at the end any less annoying.

Lastly I shall mention Julie Walters who made my life complete with the line “Not my daughter you BITCH!” which resulted in her killing Belatrix Lestrange. It was my favourite moment in the book and it was my favourite moment in the film you will enjoy it.

LAST WORDS

A decent, excitable, fast paced, emotional rollercoaster film that will leave you crying and laughing in a jolly, nice goodbye, sort of way. Just bring a sick bucket for the epilogue.