Wall-E
There are always a good selection of kids films or kid orientated films throughout the course of the year. And since perhaps Finding Nemo and the second Shrek film, there haven't been as many of these films by Disney/Pixar ect to get overly excited about. Though it seems every child that sees these films are pleased with the end result and seen as this is their genre, it's hard to criticise a film when all that matters is it's main audiences enjoyment.
But while Finding Nemo and Shrek 2 were the most recent films that adults also thoroughly enjoyed and watched off their own steam, it's taken a short while for another high standard animated film to come out that would grip and bedazzle a mixed viewing audeince. Wall-E not only proves that kids films are still exciting, but that the ability to find a even balance for all the family can be executed in a funny, charming and beautiful way.
Before you find out anything about the plot, you have to realise just how breath-taking this film is. Who would of thought that a barren abandoned earth could look pretty and digitally stunning or that a vast repeated scene of outer space could become a great spectacle for us once again.The attention to detail is great and appreciated, with even the most mundane object been carefully structured.
The animation is flawless. Absolutely flawless. Especially on earth and the robots. It looks real. Much of the time it's impossible to tell whether or not it is real. The few slightly-shaky styled shots that appear a few times in the film only makes the animation that much more amazing and realistic. The humans are really good, too, while not realistic in the sense of you seeing it right now in real life, but they do have a realistic feel to them. The thing with the humans, I believe, is that they were purposefully meant to have this slightly rounded, slightly unrealistic feeling.
I believe the reason is to take a satirical look at humans, and what our goals for a future, perfect utopia, is. It questions what we want, and shows you what is a very, very likely outcome of our desires for a 'better' world, showing both positive and negative effects. The animation for the humans, I believe, was made rounded and slightly more cartoonish to emphasize that that is how we will become. Fat, lazy, yet so perfect. At times, especially with that perspective on the humans, they actually do look very real.
The films core is in it's blissful innocence, a balance of perfect multi-layered humour and action that is neither too drab or childlike for parents or secretly harbouring innuendos that some parents might not want their kids to be aware of. The innocence of Wall-E'scourting of Eve and their budding romance is simply beautiful.
The film is about a robot named WALL-E (or 'Waste Allocation Load Lifter, Earth-Class'), who is the only thing left on earth with some sort of emotion. His only companion seems to be an industructable yet somehow cute, cockroach. He longs for company and enriches himself with knick nacks he finds when he is scourging the planet cleaning up the waste. Then one day he meets another robot named EVE, and his adventure really begins.
There is a message in the film about taking care of ourselves and our planet or else we'll end up living in a wasted world and though it's claimed that this may not be too interesting for children, it seems that Pixar have managed to get their point across in a simple and cheerful way without imposing any school like moments. The social commentary in "WALL·E" is sobering because it's never overbearing and most importantly because we see the world through machines, machines who feel more about Earth and life than the humans do.
It is a majestic science fiction epic like we haven't seen in a couple of decades and it is a genuinely touching and never cheap romance. WALL·E pay homages to popular films and figures of the past- Chaplin, Keaton, Tati, the Marx Brothers, "2001: A Space Odyssey" (this one is particularly spectacular), "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" are actually homages and not ripoffs.
From the entertaining shorts shown before the film to the memorable characters, locations, and animation we have come to expect, Pixar films are now event cinema, and they have outdone themselves with "WALL·E". This film is spectacular, majestic, touching, involving, and achingly beautiful. Most importantly, however, it is perfect entertainment. Personally you will be hard pressed to find an animated film or any film that can satisfy you more than "WALL·E in 2008.
5/5
Alone in the Dark
The Alone in the Dark film is not based on Hubert Chardot's original masterpiece, but is rather based loosely on the plot of Alone in the Dark: The New Nightmare (PSOne, DreamCast, Game Boy Color and PC - released on late June, 2001 ) and despite not basing the script on one of the more popular titles, this hands down, the worst Uwe Boll movie currently in circulation (at least until Postal comes out). It lacks anything amusing or unintentionally funny you might find in guilty-pleasure viewings of his other films. It offers nothing more than Uwe Boll's limitless incompetence as a director and B-actors who, despite being native English speakers appear to be reciting their lines phonetically. Christian Slater seems ashamed that this is the only way he can con his way into a major theatrical release anymore, and already resigned to his fate appearing in Hollow Man. Boll appreciates the complexity of the characters of the videogame and the complex plot and is trying to bring the same creepy atmosphere to the big screen. The only problem is that he doesn't seem to be trying too hard, especially when it comes to the atmosphere comparisons between the game and the film. A problem many fans have with adaptions of their most loved games or books ect, is that the film only relation to the game will be in the title alone. The Final Fantasy: Spirits Within film is a perfect example.
The opening shots of the film are of a young boy running through the woods at night in his pajamas, intercut with the title cards that tell us that yes, this movie is called Alone in the Dark. The boy is in quite a hurry as we can hear him being chased by snarling wolf creatures and we can also see a number of rescue workers standing around in the woods shining their flashlights around commenting "I can't see anything." These workers aren't in as much of a hurry, presumably because they don't know about the evil wolf creatures. A friendly subtitle tells us with a Tom Clancy-esque "bleepity-bleepity blip!" sound that this is 22 years ago.
Now we're in an orphanage. A nun looks troubled and says to a man in the background, "It's just...these children are my responsibility." "We've been through this before!" says the man behind her, a man who looks disturbingly like James Lipton. "If my work is a success, thousands of lives can be saved." The clue that the father is responsible for a lot of wrong-doings is given away from the get go.Now if this scene had of been executed better this eerie introduction to a supposed horror film would of been, well it would of been eerie.
The basic plot reads: When Edward is called in to investigate the mysterious disappearance of 19 people, he comes face-to-face with the very thing that has haunted him most of his life. The disappearances only have one thing in common - all the victims grew up in the same orphanage as Edward. Edward turns to Aline Cedrac (Tara Reid), long-time friend, anthropologist and former flame for help in unraveling the mystery behind an ancient artifact. The fight scenes are oddly reminiscent of standard WWE match-ups. Tara Reid manages to actually do well in this film, despite her previous acting credentials and yet you can't help but feel that Slater deserves more and could of portrayed the character in a more realistic sense, if he had of been given a juicer more fateful script to work of. The film was in production hell for a long period of time and yet Uwe Boll continues to work hard to get it made. He didn't work on the script, merely accepting that the producers reasoning for dismissing the film was not the writing but their loathing of Boll and yet in this case it seems that it was in fact that they were worried about the overall film and not the director.
1/5
MAY
A friend of mine told me that she had a film she thought I should watch and review. And as every now and again RevanDesigns allows a special request or two to be taken under my wing I decided to go with this. This film had disturbed her and after my own viewing I can see why.
The film is called May and the only summary she gave me was along the lines of "Watch it, Oh my god watch it. She's like a loner and cuts pieces of people that she likes. AHAHAHAHAHA"
So before I even popped the dvd in I was worried about what my eyes were about to see. Oh and eyes mean alot in the context of this film.
May is indeed a lonely girl who suffers from some sort of lopsided eye syndrome. One of her eyes is offset and she needs special glasses or ointments ect. In her youth she had to wear an eyepatch, which probably was the main reason and beginning of her being outcasted and left alone.
She's also a weirdo. See you watch films where the loner dude or gal does odd things, things that the consensus laugh at or mock, but the viewer will ususally feel for the character and in some cases udnerstand their quirky actions and sympathise and aknowledge than not being like everyone else is cool.
Not in May though, oh lord not in May. She starts of as one of these clichéd defendable characters but quickly emerges from her shell of slightly bizarre to completely messed up rapidly. Her obssession with a car mechanic only gets more disturbing as the film progresses and it also gets pretty bloody. But the pivotal 'horror' part of the film isn't the scariest or most awkward. There's a scene where she SOMEHOW manages to get a date with the mechanic guy, who's hands she has fallen in love with. He finds her 'different' and interesting and despite the warning signs ends up taking her to bed. May gets ahead of herself and gets a lump of his lip in the midst of their date. His lip bleeds profusely and all May can do is rub the blood over her face making odd cooing noises. Mechanic Hands is obviously freaked out by this and decides to ultimately call it quits. Why he didn't call Dr.Phil or whoever the hell gave Dr.Phil credentials (cos that's gotta be a guy use to whackjobs) I don't know. He leaves and she rises from the bed confused as to what she could of possibly done wrong. Lets see....everything. Now at first I thought the horror/killing aspect of this film might come from the moment May and MechanicHands watch a short film he himself has made. It stars a couple in a park who start eating each other (steady) zombie style. MHands is curious to Mays reaction and May finds it to be a sweet story. You can see why I wondered if MHands would join her in some oddball slaughter spree. I was glad when he legged it. But unfortunately May knows no bounds, limits or restraining orders. She pursues him and he becomes her first victim.
But to understand my confusion you need to understand the pacing of this film. The murdering and 'collecting of body parts she most loves' doesn't happen until the last quarter of the film. The main chunk of this film is about May, the people around her who are oddly attracted to her and her naive childlike state. The most disturbing scenes are have nothing to do with murder. A scene involving a group of school children at a blind kids centre where May volunteers is the most horrifying part of the film. Mays obssession with her doll is consistent and sometimes you feel as if the doll is controlling May. But the fact that it's all May, all the time is what adds to the creepiness factor.
May is pursued in a seductive yet oddly abusive way by her co-worker, the moronic secretary played superbly by Anna Faris. She seems to find May fascinating and sets about trying to woo her. There's a point where she tries to seduce May and then asks her to look after her cat for a while (that doesn't end well for the cat). You think that she's merely flirting with May in order to get her to do stuff for her but later you realise that she really wants some sort narcissistic affair with her.
Everyone who May meets that has a handful of decent screentime ends up being chopped, sliced and gorroted. May hones in on a specific part of someones body, a part she finds appealing, attractive and loveable and then kills the person and detatches the body part from them.
What does she do with these body parts? Well she wants to make something...someone...a friend. Yes she's an expert seemtress our May and she shows of her taxidermy like skills by constructing this horrid franketstein like creature at the finale of the film. But one thing is missing an eye for which to see with. Yes May doesn't have enough time to run downstairs, out the building and jump on someone who has an attractive eye, so she decides "meh what the heck" and gouges her own eye out. It's nasty, mainly because of her screams. Any hope of this girl being aware of her actions and the world around her are dashed when she stabs her weak eye and yoinks it out. Then she crawls to the frankenfriend and places it on the head. Then the creepiest scene of all happens just before the credits role and the frankenfriend raises an arm and clutches her in a hug.
Did it really come alive or was it only in Mays deepest wishes?
Well personally I think it was all in Mays head. If the doll being some sort of evil controller were a part of the storyline I'd of thought the frankenfriend might have actually come alive, but it would serve no purpose to the film as this isn't a story of supernatural occurences. It's a story of a lonely girl, mentally disturbed and a bit too keen on what lies beneath your wooly mittens.
The film is surprsingly quiet for the most part, alot of cinematography will be focused on May, either from close up shots or from afar. Quite often these scenes will not be accompanied by any score or dleiberately obvious music and yet the soundtrack has some pretty rocky tracks. They start to kick in more around the time when May's deep anger and repression really shine or when she is commiting an act of murder.
If you want to watch something different that isn't standard by most released horror youth films and you really do want to be creeped out, then yes May does a good job despite it's quiet indie backdrop release.
4/5
[REC] Review In-dept Prologue
First of all this is a Spanish film, with you guessed it English subtitles for the rest of the world. I don't understand why people completely avoid any foreign language film because of subtitles. It really doesn't, in my honest opinion, effect the enjoyment of the film or the quality. It was powerful in the Passion of the Christ, it didn't steal from the beautiful haunting tale of The Orphanage and it in fact only increases the viewing pleasure of this film. Mainly I just really like the dialect of the characters when they freak out during the bat-poop crazy moments.
Anyway...
[REC] is a film about a late night tv reporter who goes about the city following stories of people, workers ect that do their things during the wee sleepy hours. The entire crew of this show is one reporter Angela and her cameraman Pablo. You never see more than Pablo's feet throughout the entirety of the film. The film is also shot in a POV style, similiar to that of say Cloverfield (bah!) and the likes of the Blair Witch Project. And yet for me, this film didn't really bare much of a rsemblence to the other listed films when you really got into it. It seems more genuine if that makes sense.
Angela is following the staff of a fire station on this particular night and is hoping that at some point a possible call out will occur so that something exciting happens before the camera. After a while, there is indeed an apparent emergency at an apartment building in the city and Angela and Pablo tag along for the ride, expecting it to be a routine procedure, such as someone is locked or a gas leak has happened in the apartment. When they arrive their they see a police car and inside the lobby of the building are most of the residence. Something is going on upstairs involving one of the yet unseen residents and the police need the firemen's help bashing down the door to their flat.
Up until now there's a slight air of "what exactly could happen", but for the most part we are simply the viewers or invisible play residents. When the police, firemen and reporter head upstairs they encounter a slightly deranged and bloodied old woman. The senior police officer tries to calm the woman down, but she is frightened and suddenly goes feral and attacks him brutally. The crew leap to get her off him and run down stairs with the officer who is bleeding profusely, meanwhile leaving the old woman upstairs alone. From there on, things get worse for the live-in occupants and the newly grounded guests of the apartment.
Battlestar Galactica 4.2 Recaps
Dualla dying kinda broke me. She never complained in that show. I always thought she was a silent resilient type and in a way important to the ship. But I get why she did it.
She was reeling in a moment of pure happiness after being with Lee and just thinking back to when she was a child. So she killed herself so she would die with a good feeling and not one of loss of hope after the revelations of the planet. She was on my list a few pages back as being a possible 5th.
I am worried about Laura Roslin. Damn that was another hard scene. She just wants to be left alone to die, at the moment it seems. That goes to show what her burning something in the Last Supper picture meant. She's lost all faith in the faith she had and who could blame her. She's brning her ties to the prophecies and the Gods.
If you've seen any of the spoilers on the You Will know the Truth Site you'll see or notice that in a clip she says what I think is "Oh my god". Notice she didn' say 'Gods'.
So the final Cylon was...Ellen Tigh. I didn't gasp, but I did get excited. I suppose she wasn't the one I wanted it to be. But I have no problem with it. At least the speculation is over. I just never saw what her importance was overall. I'm not sure what she meant by what she said to Saul when the bomb went off.
I also thought for a second that it might not really be her or somehing cos the clues were a bit too obvious when Saul started seeing her in 6. And why has everyone forgotten that 6 is pregnant with his child and that Cylons can't reproduce with each other?? Ahhhh my mind.
I don't know what to make of this holocaust thing, it feels like a different show when we see the flashbacks. 2000 years? What the...
And the 13th tribe is a Cylon tribe? But does that mean the human looking bones are the evolved human bones. So there were loads of 6's and 12's ect? I'm confused about that.
They were all cylons??
I think that is what really frakked with Roslin's head.
Also I honestly thought she would be the 5th cos of how the spoiler clues were going.
Someone said they think that Saul and Ellen were mommies to Anders and Chief an Tory married Anders or something and that's their connection. I'm not too sure about that.
Seems there will be a Cylon/Human alliance now. So I think we'll be seeing a war between that alliance and Cavil's crew. Imagine how Cavil will feel when he sees the 5th is Ellen.
Also don't we have to find out who the Cylon god is?
And what the frak is Kara? A hybrid or was she simply ressurected. Weird to see Leoben suddenly become frightened and run away from her.
Get Backers
Basic Summary-
The Get Backers, is an anime show that has a lot to offer. The Get Backers story revolves around two main characters. Ban Mido and Ginji Amano are our heroes who call themselves the Get Backers. Their motto is “There’s nothing we can’t Get Back!” Basically, they are hired to retrieve items that are priceless for money. However, these jobs aren’t easy to complete. Many obstacles and enemies stand in the way of our heroes in order to complete their missions. However, they claim they have a success rate of 100%, but they never make the money they set out for. This is one part of the story. The storyline goes much deeper when Ginji’s old past comes back into his life during one of his recovery jobs. This is where the story really gets going, as Ginji’s past is involved with a place called the Limitless Fortress. A place ruled by the so call “God” of the Limitless Fortress. The place itself can alter reality to the point that it becomes real. Ginji was raised in this horrible place, however, as he grows he becomes a figure head so to say. His title is the Lightning Emperor, in which at that time he ruled the bottom levels of the fortress along with his loyal gang members called the Volts. Together they made sure that peace was held at that level in the fortress and gave hope to the people of this place. However, Ginji leaves his friends behind and joins up with Ban to become a Get Backer, in order to help people outside of the Limitless Fortress. This is how the story really begins and it‘s more to it, but I can‘t spoil everything.
Characters-
The characters are well develop considering it is a short anime with only 49 episodes. However, it has good character development. They give a sufficient amount of details to each characters background for the most part, so you can have some sense from where they came from and how do they play a part of the storyline. I like when every character is involved in the storyline. Each character is equally important in their own way and contribute as a whole in this anime and in the storyline. Each character plays their part. The attitudes that the characters display is very fun to watch and see as well. Each character also performs techniques that may wow you, or techniques that you may have never seen ever in your life. I'm surprised in how detail the techniques were. The creator of this series really put time and effort into the moves. Technique to watch out for, Ban’s Jagon eye, once you lock eyes with Ban, he can create series of illusions for a whole minute that seems like an eternity. Characters to look forward to that I think you may enjoy or like, are Ban Mido, Ginji Amano, Kyoji Kagami, Masaki Kurusu, Mukebex, Takuma Foduo, and of course my avatar, Kurudo Akabane AKA, Dr. Jackel.
Music and Sounds-
The characters voice acting are on point. There’s no voice here that annoyed me. The dialogue was quite clever and well done. The background music is great. The themes really make the scenes better. The soundtrack is a must download in my opinion. The openings and ending themes are also great. Overall the creator of the series did a good job on this aspect.
Negatives-
Although I enjoyed this anime, it has it flaws. Season one was the best. Episodes 1-25 were great and it followed the storyline from the Manga. However, episodes 26-49 are good, but a little different from the Manga. Season two tends to give some filler episodes, that are okay, but you rather see more important storylines. However, the last saga is quite good, but it seemed to be rushed. The storyline was great, but needed to be longer. Another problem is that it leaves too many plot holes, that can only be filled by reading the Manga. You get the sense that when the anime is finish, you’re left with this notion, “What happens next?” If you want to know the rest of the story, you have to buy the Manga. Other than that, the anime is quite good.
Final Judgment-
The Get Backers anime is a must see series in my opinion. The themes that are use are quite realistic. You can relate it to our real world, and that’s why I liked it so much. It contains memorable characters and moments. It has a lot of action and a great storyline to go with it. It has a good mix of humor, which is always a plus. Even though season two lost a bit of its magic from season one, the series from an overall view is good. Trust me, after you finish seeing the series, you would want to buy the Manga to see what happens to Ban and Ginji as their adventures continue.
The Get Backers get a 8.5/10.
Loving Annabelle
Isn't is great when you get a film about something some people still consider taboo and it's not just there for the titillation but for the purpose of telling a story about love and heartbreak and bloody conniving nuns?!
I sure do.
Loving Annabelle is a film directed by Katherine Brookes, who's primary list of other jobs includes directing the Simple Life (ouch) and the the Osbournes (brave woman). It stars Erin Kelly, who plays Annabelle a senators bad-girl daughter, who looks a lot like other women of that age I’ve seen either from tv or in real life. It also has the very soft spoken Diane Gaidry who plays a well meaning cool kind hearted teacher, Miss Bradley, at the All Girls Nunnery School for Shenanigans.
Annabelle has been sent to boarding school by her father in order to try and calm down her wicked ways. She doesn’t seem that wicked in the film though, she seems pretty cool, in a non “hey man what’s up…get outta face way”. She instantly befriends her roommates, that include that JAW OF DOOM Cat, Kristen and cute porcupine lover Collins. The school is run by Mother Immaculata, who not only sports a stern chilling expression when she is displeased but also must suffering from headaches due to her hair being tied so damn tightly.
Mother Immaculata is also Miss Bradley’s aunt and it is implied during the course of the film, well at least twice that Mother Immaculata may be harboring some ‘sinful’ tendencies herself, made all the more dirty by the fact that they are for her niece. Now this may of come across as just a play for the viewers to make up their minds, but I don’t know of anyone that has seen the scene of Mother Immaculately Hypocritical sitting on a couch with a glass of bourbon in one hand and her awkwardly uncomfortable nieces soft locks in the other, being fondled by her bony digits and creepy eyes and not thought “damn she’s being a wee bit indecent with her niece”.
So anyway on with the film, sorry about that little meander. Annabelle and Miss Bradley form a connection, that involves poetry, their lost of their lovers from the past and classroom eye romance. The girls that Annabelle live with find it interesting that she’s a lesbian, but never really bring it up too often, I presume because it’s not that big a deal. Of course there’s one of them that finds it useful as a nerve to poke whenever Annabelle and Miss Bradley are caught making googly eyes. Yes JAW OF DOOM catches on to their eyeball loving and she also takes a fancy to Annabelle, attacking her in a pool and giving her the kiss of life even though they’re both not under the water. Annabelle says no and JAW OF DOOM, splashes her with water, Annabelle melts to death and the film ends.
Nah…. JAW OF DOOM leaves in a huff and from then on ups the Bradley agitating taunts and then finally in an ultimate act of betrayal ends up being the reason that Annabelle and her new found sweetheart loose each other.
See all the while I was talking about odd aunts and women with impressively scary jaws, Annabelle and Bradley do end up giving into their feelings, well Bradley does anyway. She is hesitant at first due to the fact that she lost her previous lover and that she’s currently in a relationship with a man who she is not happy with.
They spend a night together and are intruded upon the next morning while waking up by Mother Immaculata and are caught in the act (of clothes-putting-on). The police are called and Miss Bradley is taken away. Well all want to see an extra scene after the credits where either the two lovers are reunited or JAW OF DOOM and Mother Immaculata are tarred and feathered, but unfortunately we see neither.
This is a story about love, forbidden and passionate and how for some it's all worth it. The fact that I haven’t gone into detail aboutlove scenes, is testament to the fact that not all movies about sch a topic out there are made just to show a meaningless written piece of titilation. People find love and people loose it. It happens regardless of your gender or the gender of the person you fall for and it also happens whether you are young or old.
5/5
Film News
Upcoming films that will make you think "Oh lord...no they're not making that".
Dragonball Z Live Action Film
Ace Ventura 3
A Christmas Carol (how many more of these do we need)
Final Destination 4
Goal 3
The Grudge 3
Hannah Montana the Movie
Hobgoblins 2
Ice Age: Age of the Dinosaurs
Lupin the 3rd
Legally Blondes
Phantasm V
Resident Evil: Degeneration
The Scorpion King 2
Saw V
Seems sequels are the main downfall for future cinema veiwing.
Batman: Dark Knight
Coming Soon!
Wolverine Action Figures
Wolverine Origins Sneak Trailer from Comic Con
Summary of Plot
Set seventeen years before X-Men, the film will focus on Wolverine's violent past, and his early encounters with William Stryker. The Weapon X program and his interactions with other mutants will be explored, including his complex relationship with Sabretooth / Victor Creed.
Hugh Jackman as Logan / Wolverine
Troye Mellet plays the young Logan
Liev Schreiber as Victor Creed / Sabretooth
Danny Huston as William Stryker (replacing Brian Cox)
Lynn Collins as Kayla Silver Fox
Daniel Henney as David North / Agent Zero
Will.i.am (Black Eye Peas) as John Wraith / Kestrel
Taylor Kitsch as Remy LeBeau / Gambit
Dominic Monaghan as Barnell
Ryan Reynolds as Wade Wilson / Deadpool
Scott Adkins as Weapon XI
Kevin Durand as Frederick J. Dukes / The Blob
Interesting note and not sure where it fits into Wolverines Origins but Tim Pocock cameos as a young Cyclops.
From what has been seen Deadpool has no scarring, so it might be that it will happen in the film or not at all.
The Watchmen Trailer
Max Payne Trailer
Next villain for Dark Knight series chosen already?
A few posters have been running through the interweb of who might be the next major villain in the 3rd Batman film. Some exceoptionally well made, though considered 100% fanart posters of Riddler were the firt. Now it seems that an official poster has been released and in it the villain for the next film. Spoilers, possibly, lie ahead.
Deadshot
