Film Update 23/08/2008

I haven't written anything for ages although I've been watching loads of stuff. I've been distracted by playing the excellent Bionic Commando Rearmed and of course my most favourite game ever Rock Band on the Xbox 360.

Anyway, at the cinema I've seen the following films;




WANTED
A totally retarded action film (based on a graphic novel) where James McAvoy is an unknowing descendant of a super hit man and has the ability to curve bullets! After being initiated into Angelina Jolie's gang he gets assigned missions to take out randomly generated "bad" guys for the greater good. Its really really stupid and far fetched but also quite fun if you ignore physics and other broken laws. Morgan Freeman also stars.

HANCOCK
Quite a nice idea to have a flawed superhero but ultimately the story wasn't strong enough and it ended up getting far too unnecessarily complicated. It would have been loads better if there was an actual point to the story and for it to end on a cliffhanger. Also superhero films need both the 'superhero' and an equally balanced 'supervillain', there wasn't any strong bad guy characters. Overall it felt a bit flat.




KUNG FU PANDA
This was a really nice CGI movie. Jack Black and the other voice actors (including Jackie Chan as the monkey) were great. However the best bit about the whole movie was the brilliant dream sequence at the start which was portrayed as a traditional cartoon. It reminded me so much of Samurai Jack, my most favourite cartoon of all time - thats certainly not a bad thing in my opinion!

WALL.E
This together with Speed Racer is one of my most favourite films of the year. I wasn't expecting too much from it, well - I was expecting it to be good since it was made by Pixar but if far exceeded my expectations. It has a truly lovely story and a underlying point about the environment today. All the characters are brilliant and lovingly created in glorious CGI. The visuals were so strong that there wasn't much need for dialogue which is just as well as most of the robots just bleeped.




THE DARK KNIGHT (see review on 28/07/2008)

HELLBOY II - THE GOLDEN ARMY
Guillermo del Toro proves to cinema goers he has what it takes to become one of the future great directors in my opinion. OK, Hellboy 2 wasn't brilliant although it was thoroughly entertaining but the vision of the director and the new scale/budget seemed to compliment each other. I cannot wait to see what del Toro makes of the Hobbit in 2011.

MUMMY - TOMB OF THE DRAGON EMPEROR
More of the same shenanigans, nothing really new here. Jet Li was wasted as a bad guy, Brendan Fraiser was alright however since Rachel Weisz has left the project American actress Maria Bello was cast in her role. Her English accent was on par with Dick Van Dyke's in Mary Poppins. It was entertaining but probably would have been better if it was released a few years ago and had all the original cast.




YOU DON'T MESS WITH THE ZOHAN
Yeah OK, I had a few hours free and this was new at the cinema. The advert looked kinda funny. It was alright overall, maybe could have done with more jokes but I think as long as you're not Israeli or Palestinian and don't know too much about the conflict you could probably enjoy this. I definitely think Hacky-Sack should be a recognised sport in the 2012 Olympic Games now after watching this.

STAR WARS - CLONE WARS
Originally meant for the small screen, George Lucas apparently saw how good it looked and decided to release it as a feature film. Its entertaining but doesn't quite have that Star Wars feel to it. The baby 'Hutt' will make you laugh/cringe.




GET SMART
Its been a while since I saw the original sixties TV show (created by the brilliant Mel Brooks) so I can't really comment on the similarities. This big screen adaptation is however totally crap. If you've already seen the trailer you've already seen most of the jokes, well... situations. Its incredibly dull, Steve Carell should be doing better films really. On the plus, Anne Hathaway was really hot! Oh yeah, look out for Bill Murray's pointless cameo. I'm sure there are lots of cameo's from the original cast in this too like the old man who crashes his car, he's got to be someone from the sixties show.

Dark Knight Parody

Very funny and true. It was one of the bad points of the film, Batman doesn't sound very well.

Who gave Dark Knight a 5 out of 10 by the way? Explain yourself please.

The Dark Knight - my review

OK, first things first... I have a confession to make. It was me who scored The Dark Knight a 9 out of 10, I'm very very sorry! After a second viewing this afternoon I have now retracted my 9 to be replaced with a 10 as it rightfully deserves.

I think the reason I gave it a 9 originally was because its quite different to Batman Begins. That to me was my perfect Batman movie and the fact that it was almost entirely shot in Britain gave me a sense of patriotism when watching it.

I loved the mythology behind 'Begins', it was so well done. This made the Batman character (Christian Bale) seem believable, a step away from most comic book adaptations. Director Christopher Nolan did such a fantastic job that Batman's past no longer needs to be covered, a refreshing step away from the films of the 80's & 90's.

The Dark Knight continues very close to where it left off, with Batman doing his usual unorthodox heroics. Saying that however, Batman isn't really the main character in The Dark Knight. Don't get me wrong, he's there doing his stuff but the focus seems to be on the other characters through the majority of the story like detective Gordon, the Joker & Harvey Dent/Two Face. This works well and on my second viewing I really appreciated it.

Dark Knight is a lot "darker" than Begins. For example the interrogation scene between Batman and the Joker is really brutal.

The late Heath Ledger's portrayal of the Joker is absolutely brilliant. He's totally crazy and psychotic! All the reports of praise are true, he does deserve that Oscar nomination.

Harvey Dent (played by the excellent Aaron Eckhart) is again a different portrayal of the character I was expecting to see. Throughout the film he is seen as the main hero. His transformation into Two Face is brilliant and the FX on his half mangled face looks incredible.

The rest of the cast are great, featuring many recognisable faces just as simple extras. I guess since the Batman re-imagination lots of actors now want work in a Batman movie as its more than just a crappy kids action film, it has credibility!

The end of the film is not at all what I was expecting. Original in every way, what happens next I haven't got a clue but I'll be looking forward to it. In the meantime I'm sure the internet will be rife with rumours/suggestions!

***RUMOUR ALERT*** Johnny Depp as the Ridler, I heard that today (01/08/08). Hmm...?

The Dark Knight trailer... in LEGO!

This one's going out to my good buddy Ned, I'm sure you'll like it!

Terminator Salvation (2009)

As rumoured the teaser trailer for Terminator Salvation is attached to 'The Dark Knight' which I'm watching tomorrow (cannot wait!!!).



And heres a screen shot someone took from the trailer of the new Terminator! I've adjusted the contrast and brightness, although its still not amazingly clear.

On a sad note I found out the FX master Stan Winston died last week. He was responsible for creating amazing special effects for The Terminator, Predator and Jurassic Park amongst others.

oooh, that makes me so mad!!!

OK, this is gonna sound completely dorky, I accept that.

I was watching BBC News 24 and they were covering tonights premiere of The Dark Knight in London. The girl on the red carpet reporting had no bloody idea about Batman, she referred to Michael Caine as Batman's Dad and kept mistaking the Batmobile as the new Batpod (the awesome bike). It was embarrassing.



Do your research!

Michael Bay's Rejected "The Dark Knight" Script

Apparently, Michael Bay wrote an unsolicited script for The Dark Knight that was ultimately rejected by Warner Bros.

To read the full story, click here.

I doubt its true but its very funny nevertheless!

Dark Knight dedicated to Ledger

Actor Heath Ledger, who died following a drug overdose in January, will be remembered in an on-screen tribute in his final full film, The Dark Knight.

The end credits of the Batman Begins sequel will include a farewell note to the 28-year-old.

At the time of his death the Brokeback Mountain star had just completed filming the role of The Joker.

Special effects technician, Conway Wickliffe, who was killed in a stunt accident, will also be remembered.

The special tribute reads: "In memory of our friends Heath Ledger and Conway Wickliffe."

The hotly anticipated Dark Knight film also stars Christian Bale as Batman, Michael Caine, Morgan Freeman and Gary Oldman.

Ledger died from an accidental overdose of six different types of prescription drugs in his New York apartment.

In the production notes, British director Christopher Nolan wrote of Ledger: "I needed a phenomenal actor, but he also had to be someone unafraid of taking on such an iconic role."

"Heath created something entirely original. It's stunning, it's captivating. It's going to blow people away" he added.

The Dark Knight will premiere in London on 21 July and goes on general release in the UK on 25 July.

* Pinched from BBC Entertainment News, 27/06/2008

Heath Ledger Joker figure

If you see this figure in a shop to buy or can get one cheap DO SO IMMEDIATELY!

The Joker figure completely sold out within a few minutes of its release in the US, now to be found at some ridiculously high price on eBay.

It looks pretty crap to me but I guess if you want to make some money off the death of Heath Ledger nows the time to do it!

Heath Ledger dead at 28

Actor Heath Ledger was found dead at a Manhattan apartment Tuesday afternoon in what appeared to be a possible drug-related death; he was 28.

The actor was discovered in one of the SoHo apartment's bedrooms at 3:31 p.m., when a masseuse arrived for a scheduled appointment and the residence's housekeeper went to inform the actor of the masseuse's arrival. He was found unconscious and unresponsive; the New York Times at first stated that the apartment in question belonged to actress Mary-Kate Olsen, but a publicist for the actress later said that Olsen did not own a unit in the building in which Ledger was found. An initial police report also cited by the New York Times said that foul play was not suspected and that pills had been found near Ledger's body.

A native of Australia, Ledger shot to fame as a teen heartthrob in 10 Things I Hate About You before graduating to more adult roles, most notably his Oscar-nominated turn in Brokeback Mountain.

Engaged at one time to Brokeback co-star Michelle Williams, the two had a daughter but had split in recent months.

Recently, Ledger wrapped filming on the Batman film The Dark Knight, in which he played The Joker; the film is currently set for release this summer.

* Pinched from IMDb, 23/01/2008

The Dark Knight (2008)

No doubt, this will be the best superhero film of 2008! Can't wait to see it.

And here's a new on screen interpretation they shouldn't have bothered with... Aquaman, probably one of the worst superhero's ever created. Notice the Batman music in the background at the start, the cheek of it!

The Dark Knight (2008)

Here's the most recent picture released for the forthcoming Batman movie, The Dark Knight.

The Dark Knight (2008)

Here's some images from the new Batman movie (I thought it was going to be called 'The Dark Knight Returns'?). I'm really looking forward to this.



Check out Heath Ledger as the Joker, he actually looks the part despite the flak he's getting on the web.


I quite like the look of the Bat-Bike (I think the official name is Bat-Pod at the moment).