Another Orange Wednesday, another 2 for 1 film for Dave and Jean. This time it was Pixar's new movie Ratatouille.
Before the movie, Pixar gave an incredibly funny Pixar short about an Alien learning to drive a spaceship. Although probably less than 5 minutes in length, this short alone was worth the entrance fee. A description is omitted here since it would fail to do it justice and simply spoil it for any who haven't seen.
The movie itself was about a genius/crazy rat named Remy. Genius in that Remy used his hightened sense of smell to become the worlds greatest chef. Crazy in that he was willing to risk his life and the lives of family and friends for food, ingredients and a cook book. Another perculiar character trait of his was his views on stealing, which he refused to do when he was near dying of starvation but was willing to do later to save face in front of his brother. In summary, Remy was odd.
Ratatouille explores very deep issues in a very soft light hearted way. Remy himself is caught between two worlds, neither of which he feels he belongs to. For his family he "pretends" to be a rat, for his love of cooking he pretends to be "human" (via using a simple minded human as a giant puppet, which may seem a bit odd but still makes more sense than him dressing up in clothes and walking on stilts). In addition, he had to deal with the obvious racisim against him and had to work 10 times harder just to be considered equal.
Jean felt Remy was someone she could relate to. Being Chinese in England can very much feel like being a rat in a kitchen at times. Jean often found it hard to adjust to life in the UK. From the occasional snigger from a kid saying, "Ni hao," as he walked past to out-right racist remarks there was always a reminder coming just around the corner that this wasn't home. Even well meaning individuals didn't help with comments such as "I find it really funny when they shout in Chinese." At the same time, Jean had left China for a reason and had grew further away from it with the passing of time. If she couldn't stay and she couldn't leave, what should she do?
Ratatouille looks at all of this, but makes it suitable for children. It keeps the humour coming throughout and some viewers may not even notice the more serious notes. Emile, Remy's brother, is never far from the screen to ensure things don't get to heavy, despite being incredibly overweight himself. Emile is a fun loving rat, never lets things stress him. Eats anything, overweight, absolutely NO taste at all with zero potential of ever being anything remotely like a chef. Here was a character Dave could relate to.
The overall story line was fairly predictable. Useless guy meets crazy mouse, form a cooking team. Guy becomes great head chef, finds female chef, live happily ever after. The "villians" of the story being the former head chef who isn't keen to lose his job and a very strict food critic who works in a coffin shaped office on a skull looking type writer. The comment is made that he is incredibly thin for a man who likes food to which he replies,
"I don't LIKE food, I LOVE it! And I ONLY SWALLOW what I LOVE!"
This reminded Dave of a similar comment Aline had once made during a game of "Truth or Dare", but that was about a rather different topic.
When the movie was over, Dave checked his phone. 1 missed call. Why? Why did he only ever seem to recieve calls when he was in the cinema? How did people know? Was there a website somewhere advertising what times Dave would be unable to answer?
Overall a good film.
Thursday, October 25, 2007
Tuesday, September 11, 2007
Superman Returns
Finally.
Having missed it at the cinema and on several occasions since, Dave would finally get the chance to see the long awaited Superman Returns, thanks to the great site TV-Links.
The last line Superman says to Lex in Superman IV is "See you in twenty". Coincidently, that movie was released in 1986 and the new movie was released 20 years later, 2006. Dave had started to wonder if he would see it before 2026.
So what was it about?
The father sends the son to Earth. The exact relationship between father and son described as "The father becomes the son and the son becomes the father." The son, although clearly the saviour of the human race, is met with resentment. "The world doesn't need a saviour". He is beaten and humiliated and, despite knowing he is going to die, he still chooses to carry the weight of the world on his shoulders, to remove the burden which will destroy mankind whilst sacrificing himself. The life fades from his body, whilst his arms are stretched out to either side in the shape of a cross. A deadly spear in his side ultimately striking the final blow.
But low and behold! The saviour is not dead! The bed in which he lay is now empty! Superman Returns. Oh, and just to put the icing on the cake, the father son thing is repeated with Superman's kid, which kinda makes it a Trinity.
Well, if your gonna rip off a story it might as well be from the best selling book of all time right?
The movie had at least two fairly major plot holes. The first, how could Superman possibly lift an Island/Continent into space when it was laced with Kryptonite and he still had a chunk of Kryptonite in his side? Sure, the Kryptonite in the Island was probably "diluted" and he dug down far beneath the Island to give him some protection and he got a lovely fix from the Sun just before doing it, but he still had a chunk of pretty damn pure looking Kryptonite in his side which wasn't removed till he got to the hospital. He should have been barely able to walk. How is Lex suppose to do anything if Superman doesn't play by the rules?
The second regards his son. Since Clark was surprised to see Lois was with someone, presumably she didn't start going out with Richard till after he left. Since he also has all the knowledge of the advanced Kryptonian people, one would think he could count. Although the audience didn't know anything about the physical side of Clark and Lois' relationship, presumably he did. He slept with her about 5 years ago. She has a child about 4.5 years old. Hmm.
Presumably, since there wasn't any overlap between her relationships with Richard and Superman, she and Richard should have been pretty certain Richard wasn't the real dad too. Ignoring all the "Who's the daddy" nonsense, Superman is an asshole.
Without knowing they slept together, his disappearence without saying goodbye is bad, but acceptable. He always kept her at a bit of a distance. He had to be "Super"man, someone above all the relationship stuff. But would a quick, "My homeworld may have been found. I need to go check." have really been so hard? Considering they slept together, that takes it to a whole new level. He's now one of those guys who just pop out to get the milk and are never seen again. Not knowing she was pregnant is no excuse and in fact adds to the crime, since it makes it more and more likely he slept with her and just wasn't around the next day. Lois forgives him way too quick. Come on girl, so he can fly, get over it.
Not many people could pull off being the saviour and a dick in one film.
I guess that's what makes him Super.
Having missed it at the cinema and on several occasions since, Dave would finally get the chance to see the long awaited Superman Returns, thanks to the great site TV-Links.
The last line Superman says to Lex in Superman IV is "See you in twenty". Coincidently, that movie was released in 1986 and the new movie was released 20 years later, 2006. Dave had started to wonder if he would see it before 2026.
So what was it about?
The father sends the son to Earth. The exact relationship between father and son described as "The father becomes the son and the son becomes the father." The son, although clearly the saviour of the human race, is met with resentment. "The world doesn't need a saviour". He is beaten and humiliated and, despite knowing he is going to die, he still chooses to carry the weight of the world on his shoulders, to remove the burden which will destroy mankind whilst sacrificing himself. The life fades from his body, whilst his arms are stretched out to either side in the shape of a cross. A deadly spear in his side ultimately striking the final blow.
But low and behold! The saviour is not dead! The bed in which he lay is now empty! Superman Returns. Oh, and just to put the icing on the cake, the father son thing is repeated with Superman's kid, which kinda makes it a Trinity.
Well, if your gonna rip off a story it might as well be from the best selling book of all time right?
The movie had at least two fairly major plot holes. The first, how could Superman possibly lift an Island/Continent into space when it was laced with Kryptonite and he still had a chunk of Kryptonite in his side? Sure, the Kryptonite in the Island was probably "diluted" and he dug down far beneath the Island to give him some protection and he got a lovely fix from the Sun just before doing it, but he still had a chunk of pretty damn pure looking Kryptonite in his side which wasn't removed till he got to the hospital. He should have been barely able to walk. How is Lex suppose to do anything if Superman doesn't play by the rules?
The second regards his son. Since Clark was surprised to see Lois was with someone, presumably she didn't start going out with Richard till after he left. Since he also has all the knowledge of the advanced Kryptonian people, one would think he could count. Although the audience didn't know anything about the physical side of Clark and Lois' relationship, presumably he did. He slept with her about 5 years ago. She has a child about 4.5 years old. Hmm.
Presumably, since there wasn't any overlap between her relationships with Richard and Superman, she and Richard should have been pretty certain Richard wasn't the real dad too. Ignoring all the "Who's the daddy" nonsense, Superman is an asshole.
Without knowing they slept together, his disappearence without saying goodbye is bad, but acceptable. He always kept her at a bit of a distance. He had to be "Super"man, someone above all the relationship stuff. But would a quick, "My homeworld may have been found. I need to go check." have really been so hard? Considering they slept together, that takes it to a whole new level. He's now one of those guys who just pop out to get the milk and are never seen again. Not knowing she was pregnant is no excuse and in fact adds to the crime, since it makes it more and more likely he slept with her and just wasn't around the next day. Lois forgives him way too quick. Come on girl, so he can fly, get over it.
Not many people could pull off being the saviour and a dick in one film.
I guess that's what makes him Super.
Monday, July 30, 2007
Finding Neverland
"Do you know who that is?" asked Dave.
"No," said Bian.
"No," repeated Jean, "Who?"
Dave paused before answering. He paused for two reasons. Firstly, he enjoyed the fact that they didn't know. He wanted to give them a few more moments to try and figure it out, certain they wouldn't. It was part of the game.
Secondly, and more importantly, he wanted to give himself a few more moments to make 100% sure he wasn't about to make a fool out of himself and give the wrong answer.
"It's Captain Jack Sparrow."
Johnny Depp. One of the greatest cameleons the world had ever seen. He seemed different, physically different, in every film. Only his eyes gave him away. Boy, did that guy have eyes.
On this occassion he played Sir James Matthew Barrie, the author of Peter Pan, in the story of the events which inspired the adventures in Neverland.
The film is beautifully done. The acting is superb, the balance between humour and emotion is just right and the special effects don't try to dominate the story (a trait which becomes increasingly less common). More than this, the story line itself, although based on actual events, tries to capture the essence that made Peter Pan originally great, the inocence of a child who never grows up. One could just as easily, using the same real life events, have told a tale of adultry and hatred, but it would have been wrong to do so.
James, a play writer, stumbles across a family of four boys quite by chance while they're out playing. He quickly befriends them and their widowed mother and together they have many days of games and laughter. He helps the boys, especially Peter, come to terms with the loss of their father, whilst inspiring himself in to write his best ever work. Peter in turn finds the desire to put pen to paper and begins his own story. The movie captures perfectly the pride of a parent for her child and the joy of a child in seeing that pride.
Neverland was a place filled with faeries and magic, a place of imagination and inspiration, a place where dreams really do come true.
Finding Neverland, as the title suggests, is a film that points you in the direction of how to get there.
"No," said Bian.
"No," repeated Jean, "Who?"
Dave paused before answering. He paused for two reasons. Firstly, he enjoyed the fact that they didn't know. He wanted to give them a few more moments to try and figure it out, certain they wouldn't. It was part of the game.
Secondly, and more importantly, he wanted to give himself a few more moments to make 100% sure he wasn't about to make a fool out of himself and give the wrong answer.
"It's Captain Jack Sparrow."
Johnny Depp. One of the greatest cameleons the world had ever seen. He seemed different, physically different, in every film. Only his eyes gave him away. Boy, did that guy have eyes.
On this occassion he played Sir James Matthew Barrie, the author of Peter Pan, in the story of the events which inspired the adventures in Neverland.
The film is beautifully done. The acting is superb, the balance between humour and emotion is just right and the special effects don't try to dominate the story (a trait which becomes increasingly less common). More than this, the story line itself, although based on actual events, tries to capture the essence that made Peter Pan originally great, the inocence of a child who never grows up. One could just as easily, using the same real life events, have told a tale of adultry and hatred, but it would have been wrong to do so.
James, a play writer, stumbles across a family of four boys quite by chance while they're out playing. He quickly befriends them and their widowed mother and together they have many days of games and laughter. He helps the boys, especially Peter, come to terms with the loss of their father, whilst inspiring himself in to write his best ever work. Peter in turn finds the desire to put pen to paper and begins his own story. The movie captures perfectly the pride of a parent for her child and the joy of a child in seeing that pride.
Neverland was a place filled with faeries and magic, a place of imagination and inspiration, a place where dreams really do come true.
Finding Neverland, as the title suggests, is a film that points you in the direction of how to get there.
Monday, July 23, 2007
Transformers
Transformers, the live action movie. The very idea had gave Dave a roller coaster of emotions. On the one hand, this was the movie he had wanted to see since before he could walk, on the other hand, this was the movie he had wanted to see since before he could walk. It was a movie that could go very very well or a movie that could go very very bad.
It ended up somewhere in between. It was surprisingly good, but it could have been better.
The movie is about the Transformers quest to find the Allspark, a power source which can give life to random machines (Vector Sigma in a handy cube form, for fans of the original). The Autobots want to use it to restore their dying home world, Cybertron, the Decepticons want to form an army to conquer the Universe. A fairly typical Transformers type plot.
The film starts with a sceen showing some army guys talking and straight away the crucial error is made. The focus of the movie lies far too much with people. Regular guys.
Almost imediately this sceen is followed by a Decepticon attack, which is incredibly cool to watch, but no detail is ever followed up as to the Decepticons background.
Apart from Bumblebee, who despite not saying anything still manages to be cool, the other Autobots do not arrive until an hour into the film. They are then given a few sceens, but nothing major. Only Optimus Prime and, to a lesser degree, Ironhide come across as having any character at all. The Decepticons are not so lucky. Megatron and Starscream don't appear until almost two hours into the film. The whole Megatron - Starscream love hate relationship, a very key feature of the original cartoons, is given only one line, when Megatron announces Starscream has failed him "Once again." Presumably, when doing a live action, it's just alot easier to focus on real people than imaginary robots.
On the positive side, the transformers are incredibly cool to watch and certain moments will make real fans incredibly happy, no matter how much they want to hate it. For example, anyone with any claim to being a fan could not help themselves at bubbling up with glee when Optimus Prime announces,
"One shall stand, one shall fall."
It ended up somewhere in between. It was surprisingly good, but it could have been better.
The movie is about the Transformers quest to find the Allspark, a power source which can give life to random machines (Vector Sigma in a handy cube form, for fans of the original). The Autobots want to use it to restore their dying home world, Cybertron, the Decepticons want to form an army to conquer the Universe. A fairly typical Transformers type plot.
The film starts with a sceen showing some army guys talking and straight away the crucial error is made. The focus of the movie lies far too much with people. Regular guys.
Almost imediately this sceen is followed by a Decepticon attack, which is incredibly cool to watch, but no detail is ever followed up as to the Decepticons background.
Apart from Bumblebee, who despite not saying anything still manages to be cool, the other Autobots do not arrive until an hour into the film. They are then given a few sceens, but nothing major. Only Optimus Prime and, to a lesser degree, Ironhide come across as having any character at all. The Decepticons are not so lucky. Megatron and Starscream don't appear until almost two hours into the film. The whole Megatron - Starscream love hate relationship, a very key feature of the original cartoons, is given only one line, when Megatron announces Starscream has failed him "Once again." Presumably, when doing a live action, it's just alot easier to focus on real people than imaginary robots.
On the positive side, the transformers are incredibly cool to watch and certain moments will make real fans incredibly happy, no matter how much they want to hate it. For example, anyone with any claim to being a fan could not help themselves at bubbling up with glee when Optimus Prime announces,
"One shall stand, one shall fall."
Saturday, June 16, 2007
Pirates of The Caribbean: At World's End
'Why?' thought Dave, 'Why?.... Why? .... Why?'
Almost every other scene had hugh question marks. The general plot felt like it was inspired by a game of musical chairs. Dave honestly felt like he could write a book on all the finer details which just didn't add up. To avoid any serious plot spoilers, all the examples listed here appeared almost straight away. There are ALOT more as the film goes on...
The film opens with Lord Beckett killing everyone who has any connection what-so-ever to anyone who knows a pirate. Suddenly a child with a coin starts singing, everyone else joins in, someone runs to Beckett and says, "They've started singing!" Beckett announces, "Finally."
Questions:
Why do they all start singing?
What is the coin all about?
Why does Beckett announce, "Finally," in such a confident manner, when five minutes later he seems to have no idea what any of it was about?
This is briefly mentioned again, some vague annoucement that it represents "the call", a completely different coin which looks the same is dangled in front of a pirates ear. The pirate seems unimpressed and the whole singing coin things fades out of the story without any real point.
Next up, good old Will Turner seems to have turned to the dark side. It turns out he doesn't give a monkey's about Jack or anyone else. His mission is to save the black pearl, steal it and use it to rescue his father.
Questions:
Even if we ignore that turning to the dark seemed pretty unlikely for Will, how does he know the black pearl will still be in one piece when they find Jack?
Why is the black pearl still in one piece when they save Jack?
How does owning the black pearl bring him even slightly closer to saving his father?
Will and Elizabeth are refusing to talk to each other.
Why? Their yo-yo relationship starts to get tiresome.
The questions pile on and on.
On the plus side, Captain Jack and the undead Monkey Jack are both pretty cool and the film has plenty of humourous little moments which do help to make the viewer forget about most of the smaller plot holes.
For anyone who watched and enjoyed the first two, go watch it, but lower your expectations and you won't be too disapointed.
Almost every other scene had hugh question marks. The general plot felt like it was inspired by a game of musical chairs. Dave honestly felt like he could write a book on all the finer details which just didn't add up. To avoid any serious plot spoilers, all the examples listed here appeared almost straight away. There are ALOT more as the film goes on...
The film opens with Lord Beckett killing everyone who has any connection what-so-ever to anyone who knows a pirate. Suddenly a child with a coin starts singing, everyone else joins in, someone runs to Beckett and says, "They've started singing!" Beckett announces, "Finally."
Questions:
Why do they all start singing?
What is the coin all about?
Why does Beckett announce, "Finally," in such a confident manner, when five minutes later he seems to have no idea what any of it was about?
This is briefly mentioned again, some vague annoucement that it represents "the call", a completely different coin which looks the same is dangled in front of a pirates ear. The pirate seems unimpressed and the whole singing coin things fades out of the story without any real point.
Next up, good old Will Turner seems to have turned to the dark side. It turns out he doesn't give a monkey's about Jack or anyone else. His mission is to save the black pearl, steal it and use it to rescue his father.
Questions:
Even if we ignore that turning to the dark seemed pretty unlikely for Will, how does he know the black pearl will still be in one piece when they find Jack?
Why is the black pearl still in one piece when they save Jack?
How does owning the black pearl bring him even slightly closer to saving his father?
Will and Elizabeth are refusing to talk to each other.
Why? Their yo-yo relationship starts to get tiresome.
The questions pile on and on.
On the plus side, Captain Jack and the undead Monkey Jack are both pretty cool and the film has plenty of humourous little moments which do help to make the viewer forget about most of the smaller plot holes.
For anyone who watched and enjoyed the first two, go watch it, but lower your expectations and you won't be too disapointed.
Thursday, May 17, 2007
Spiderman 3
Spiderman 3. The inner struggle between good and evil. Venom, Sandman and Baby Goblin.
Dave found it physically painful to watch.
That was not to say Dave didn't enjoy it, it was just that Jean would squeeze his arm everytime there was a loud bang and there were a LOT of loud bangs. This helped make the film seem more realistic as Dave could really feel for the characters.
Overall it was a decent film and Dave did enjoy it, although it quite often seemed to try too hard to be dramatic whilst at the same time desperate for action scenes. An easy example, without giving too much away, would be Sandman. Everytime he spoke he was a loving and caring father, he didn't want to hurt anyone, he just needed to get money for his sick child, deep heart filled moments. Everytime he wasn't speaking he was pounding the c**p outa Spidey for no real reason and his moto of "I don't wanna hurt anyone" did not seem to apply to policemen, who after all aren't really people. Surely a guy made out of sand could find a much sneakier and peaceful way to collect a lot of cash in a short amount of time. But the overall pattern of the film seemed to be emotion, check, action, check, logic? need not apply. For example, what do you do when your girlfriend has been kidnapped and very soon faces certain death?
A: Calmly go home, pull out a box containing your good old faithful red spiderman suit and remove the suit very slowly, staring at it for a good minute or two to make sure the audience understands the deep emotional significance of it being a red suit and not a black one.
This was followed quite quickly by a scene straight from Futurama. "Kif, hold up that flag. Wave it a little."
The inner struggle evil Spidey was a bit of a let down. Considering the overall desperate attempt to cram pack the film full of action, they missed a Golden opportunity. Instead of showing some hardcore Spidey action of him catching thieves in his new evil don't really care if they die manner which would have fit in perfectly well with the story and have been cool, they decided to show Peter walking down the street pointing at people not caring that everyone was laughing at him. Well, it is rude to point, you go bad boy.
A final complaint which must be mentioned despite it being clearly too picky and petty, but what happened to Spidey's Spider Sense? Spidey seemed to be bashed in the back time after time and never seemed to see it coming.
Harry was great. Despite the movie being apparently about Spidey's inner struggle, Harry pulled the inner struggle thing off a lot better. Spidey occasionally came across as a bit of a spoilt child, whilst Harry always seemed to have some real issues. Jean really seemed to warm to Harry and therefore, despite his great acting attempt, Dave hated him and thought he should have been cut out of the movie all together.
A guest appearance from Bruce Wayne's buttler Alfred, pretending to be Harry's buttler, was an unexpected twist. His speach however gave him away, "Bruce, sorry, I mean Batman, I've been friends of your family for a long time, I loved your father, I love you, but you have to know Spidey didn't kill your dad, he was shot in a dark alley way by a mugger, who may or may not have been the Joker depending on which story you believe, but it was his own fault. What sane multimillionaire walks down a dark alleyway in a dangerous area at night? No, Spidey definately didn't kill your dad. He just brought your dads dead body home to lie him on the couch for you as a nice surprise for when you got home."
In summary
Emotion, check
Action, check
Logic? Need not apply.
But two outa three ain't bad.
Go watch it.
Dave found it physically painful to watch.
That was not to say Dave didn't enjoy it, it was just that Jean would squeeze his arm everytime there was a loud bang and there were a LOT of loud bangs. This helped make the film seem more realistic as Dave could really feel for the characters.
Overall it was a decent film and Dave did enjoy it, although it quite often seemed to try too hard to be dramatic whilst at the same time desperate for action scenes. An easy example, without giving too much away, would be Sandman. Everytime he spoke he was a loving and caring father, he didn't want to hurt anyone, he just needed to get money for his sick child, deep heart filled moments. Everytime he wasn't speaking he was pounding the c**p outa Spidey for no real reason and his moto of "I don't wanna hurt anyone" did not seem to apply to policemen, who after all aren't really people. Surely a guy made out of sand could find a much sneakier and peaceful way to collect a lot of cash in a short amount of time. But the overall pattern of the film seemed to be emotion, check, action, check, logic? need not apply. For example, what do you do when your girlfriend has been kidnapped and very soon faces certain death?
A: Calmly go home, pull out a box containing your good old faithful red spiderman suit and remove the suit very slowly, staring at it for a good minute or two to make sure the audience understands the deep emotional significance of it being a red suit and not a black one.
This was followed quite quickly by a scene straight from Futurama. "Kif, hold up that flag. Wave it a little."
The inner struggle evil Spidey was a bit of a let down. Considering the overall desperate attempt to cram pack the film full of action, they missed a Golden opportunity. Instead of showing some hardcore Spidey action of him catching thieves in his new evil don't really care if they die manner which would have fit in perfectly well with the story and have been cool, they decided to show Peter walking down the street pointing at people not caring that everyone was laughing at him. Well, it is rude to point, you go bad boy.
A final complaint which must be mentioned despite it being clearly too picky and petty, but what happened to Spidey's Spider Sense? Spidey seemed to be bashed in the back time after time and never seemed to see it coming.
Harry was great. Despite the movie being apparently about Spidey's inner struggle, Harry pulled the inner struggle thing off a lot better. Spidey occasionally came across as a bit of a spoilt child, whilst Harry always seemed to have some real issues. Jean really seemed to warm to Harry and therefore, despite his great acting attempt, Dave hated him and thought he should have been cut out of the movie all together.
A guest appearance from Bruce Wayne's buttler Alfred, pretending to be Harry's buttler, was an unexpected twist. His speach however gave him away, "Bruce, sorry, I mean Batman, I've been friends of your family for a long time, I loved your father, I love you, but you have to know Spidey didn't kill your dad, he was shot in a dark alley way by a mugger, who may or may not have been the Joker depending on which story you believe, but it was his own fault. What sane multimillionaire walks down a dark alleyway in a dangerous area at night? No, Spidey definately didn't kill your dad. He just brought your dads dead body home to lie him on the couch for you as a nice surprise for when you got home."
In summary
Emotion, check
Action, check
Logic? Need not apply.
But two outa three ain't bad.
Go watch it.
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