Monday 30 July 2007
Sunday 29 July 2007
Sweeney Todd (2007)
The first image of actor Johnny Depp as Sweeney Todd. The Hollywood star has once again teamed up with Edward Scissorhands director Tim Burton to play the demon barber in his new film, due out in January 2008. (Pinched from BBC Entertainment News, 2007.)
When I first saw the image I got really excited and thought it was for the 'Castlevania' film, gonna have to wait 'til 2009 for that (written by Paul W.S Anderson of Resident Evil fame, I'm not sure if thats a good thing really).
Saturday 28 July 2007
It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia
'It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia' is hilarious, not quite as good as 'Arrested Development' (thats still my favorite) but its still great. It's totally wrong in so many ways, you'll find that each episode usually touches on some taboo. Find below a clip from an episode called 'Gun Fever'.
I've watched most of the episodes on Bravo and have since downloaded some of them although I like the look of the official box set, I'll get that at some point.
Check it out if you fancy some offensive (and original) American comedy.
The Simpson's Movie (2007)
After 18 years of the animated series, fans (myself being one of them) finally get to see the Simpson's on the big screen. Was it worth the wait? I'd say both 'yes' and 'no'.
There are quite a lot of genuine funny moments throughout the film. Unfortunately theres not enough to say it was non stop fun and laughter and it didn't help the fact that most of the funny scenes had already been seen in the trailer (see below, don't watch it if you haven't seen the movie yet though!).
The trailer has been showing in cinema's and over the internet for ages so when it came to watching the movie the audience already knew what was about to happen so scenes featuring Homer and the pig for example didn't get the laugh out loud reaction it deserved.
A full length film adaptation of a 20 minute cartoon was always going to be a difficult task to achieve. I personally think the writers have been struggling to create some decent stories for a few years now, and that's just for the regular series. The full length feature really showed this as the main story wasn't that great.
With the Simpson's huge worldwide fan-base and acknowledgment as one of the best cartoon shows ever the expectation for this movie to be the 'BEST' would have been an overwhelming and daunting one for all the team involved in making it.
But overall, its a Simpson's Movie!!! After 18 years of waiting we finally have the chance to see them on the cinema. It was never going to please everyone as that would be impossible but I found it funny and enjoyable. I would have liked it a load more if I hadn't seen the trailer but I would still recommend people to go see it.
Its going to be a huge success on it's name alone, regardless of the many mediocre reviews (including this one I guess). As the young Maggie says at the end, "Sequel?" expect many more to come!
There are quite a lot of genuine funny moments throughout the film. Unfortunately theres not enough to say it was non stop fun and laughter and it didn't help the fact that most of the funny scenes had already been seen in the trailer (see below, don't watch it if you haven't seen the movie yet though!).
The trailer has been showing in cinema's and over the internet for ages so when it came to watching the movie the audience already knew what was about to happen so scenes featuring Homer and the pig for example didn't get the laugh out loud reaction it deserved.
A full length film adaptation of a 20 minute cartoon was always going to be a difficult task to achieve. I personally think the writers have been struggling to create some decent stories for a few years now, and that's just for the regular series. The full length feature really showed this as the main story wasn't that great.
With the Simpson's huge worldwide fan-base and acknowledgment as one of the best cartoon shows ever the expectation for this movie to be the 'BEST' would have been an overwhelming and daunting one for all the team involved in making it.
But overall, its a Simpson's Movie!!! After 18 years of waiting we finally have the chance to see them on the cinema. It was never going to please everyone as that would be impossible but I found it funny and enjoyable. I would have liked it a load more if I hadn't seen the trailer but I would still recommend people to go see it.
Its going to be a huge success on it's name alone, regardless of the many mediocre reviews (including this one I guess). As the young Maggie says at the end, "Sequel?" expect many more to come!
Tuesday 24 July 2007
Canceled Films (Part 1)
He-Man 2
Back in the 80's, after the success of the first He-Man film (Masters of the Universe) a big budget sequel was planned. It was going to be shot back to back with a brand new Spider-Man movie, the only problem was that the huge budget was already running out. To make a bit of extra cash to help fuel both projects the director (Albert Pyun) quickly wrote the screenplay to the film 'Cyborg' over a weekend, with the awesome Chuck Norris penned in for the lead. Unfortunately Chuck was under contract with another studio so newcomer Jean-Claude Van Damme was cast in his place. Cyborg was a huge failure and resulted in both the He-Man sequel and Spider-Man movie being canceled. It was probably for the best in the long run although I'd love to see a Chuck Norris version of 'Cyborg'!
Coincidentally, the film Cyborg has been known as 'Masters of the Universe II: The Cyborg' on American TV!
Back in the 80's, after the success of the first He-Man film (Masters of the Universe) a big budget sequel was planned. It was going to be shot back to back with a brand new Spider-Man movie, the only problem was that the huge budget was already running out. To make a bit of extra cash to help fuel both projects the director (Albert Pyun) quickly wrote the screenplay to the film 'Cyborg' over a weekend, with the awesome Chuck Norris penned in for the lead. Unfortunately Chuck was under contract with another studio so newcomer Jean-Claude Van Damme was cast in his place. Cyborg was a huge failure and resulted in both the He-Man sequel and Spider-Man movie being canceled. It was probably for the best in the long run although I'd love to see a Chuck Norris version of 'Cyborg'!
Coincidentally, the film Cyborg has been known as 'Masters of the Universe II: The Cyborg' on American TV!
New He-Man Movie
I've heard a rumour, not sure how reliable the source is but a new He-Man movie is apparently on the cards, to be shot in a style very similar to the film '300'.
Could be very cool if its true!
Sunday 22 July 2007
Transformers (2007)
Oh wow! I saw this last night and it blew me away.I must admit my expectations were low before watching this film, I'm not a huge Michael Bay fan and wasn't comfortable knowing he was directing the big screen adaptation of one of my most favourite childhood cartoon shows but he nailed it!
This has got to be the best cartoon to live-action film I've ever seen (although I can't really think of any others off the top of my head). Its definitely the best summer-blockbuster I've seen so far this year (and I've seen them all thanks to my wonderful Cineworld card and loads of free time).
*** SPOILERS BELOW ***
The main plot follows the evil Decepticons and friendly Autobots searching for a mystical cube from outer space that can turn any inanimate object to life. The Decepticons want to use it to turn all the Earth's technology into an army of evil Transformers to rule the galaxy and the Autobots are there to stop them.
I really like the way the creation of the Transformers was mentioned early on in the film and didn't go into great detail. It kept the magic of the cartoon original and at the same time made it semi plausable.
The Autobots are helped along the way by the young Sam Witwicky (Shia LaBeouf) and his gorgeous wannabe girl Mikaela Banes (Megan Fox - looks a lot like a young Tea Leoni from the first Bad Boys movie).
The film features a lot of humour, which really works well. There's a load of funny moments with the humans but the really funny stuff comes from the robots. The scene where the Autobots are sneaking outside Sam's house, trying to avoid his parents is hilarious.
The special effects in this movie are second to none. The robots look so realistic and the transformations are amazing (although they can go on for a while, Optimus Prime takes ages to change when you first see him but that helps dramatise it I guess). The fight sequences are excellent although there are a few moments when the camera's right inside the action (robot vs. robot) and it's quite hard to see whats happening.
One of the coolest things I thought about this movie was the original voice actor from the Transformers cartoon (Peter Cullen) reprised his roll for the voice of Optimus Prime (above picture) and the other robots. I didn't realise this until I was told after the film although throughout it I was thinking how well the voices had been matched, they sound great.
*** SPOILER END ***
Anyhoo, to wrap it up this is a perfect summer blockbuster (ideal for popcorn junkies) and thank you Michael Bay (I never imagined myself saying that!) for doing such a good job and keeping my childhood memories intact.
Sunday 8 July 2007
Code Monkeys
Check this out, a new animated comedy series filmed in glorious 8-bit colour, yay!
It officially starts this Wednesday (in the US) but you can watch the pilot episode here, its very good (you need to know a bit about old video games to really appreciate it though)!
It officially starts this Wednesday (in the US) but you can watch the pilot episode here, its very good (you need to know a bit about old video games to really appreciate it though)!
Saturday 7 July 2007
Real Transformers!
Yes, this is really sad and very funny but its also incredibly clever how the suits actually work (well... most of them!) when compared to the cartoon transformations. The Optimus Prime one at the end is great.
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