This movie puts a unique twist on Humans being the Alien race to a planet in total harmony with BBQ's, Jobs, Homes and flying cars.
Planet 51 is a futuristic world currently experiencing the 1950's with a space age theme. Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson is the Astronaut sent by us to seek new worlds and what he discovers is a civilised, modern(ish) race of green family's who see Humans as the alien race and treat them as we would if funny green men suddenly turned up.
Animated and in 2D it seemed a little dated compared to recent movies but kept the audience attention and was comical in places.
I don't feel the need to go on too much about this one, it was cute, cuddly and the younger kids will love it.
The "Rock" was nothing special and fell into yet another run of the mill kids flick only by being animated the famous "eyebrow" was not on show - and how it was missed!!
The animation is on the same level as Toy Story and its only redeeming feature is its managed to find an original plot line in relation to planet 51 being the base and we are the aliens, other than that, quite mediocre.
See this if..............The kids want to.
Tuesday, 5 January 2010
13, Sherlock Holmes
Robert Downey Jnr is fast regaining "Hollywood Cred" as he leaps from one cracking movie to the next and although "Period Drama's" are not my thing I absolutely loved this!!!
It's James Bond for the Early London Age and the fact that the weaponry is basic and the backdrops were stunningly re-created made it even more attractive.
Ritchie's new Muse, Mark Strong (since the Hollywood departure of Jason Statham) appearing in back to back Ritchie films was again awesome and the Watson role taken on my Jude Law was in my opinion one of his best.
I read that the Holmes Deerstalker only appears in a single paragraph in one book and the curved pipe was only introduced by a stage actor playing the part who was so vain as to state "the straight pipe obscures my face, change it!!" and these 2 minor occurrences has led to one of the most recognisable silhouettes in history but apparently not to be. Holmes is a bare knuckle, drunk, womaniser who lives for the chase and in my opinion made the character far more likable than the previously envisaged British Poirot!
The plot is great with the apparent "Rising from the Grave" of one of London's most notorious villain's but Ritchie manages to keep it real by the apparent use of trickery rather than magic and witchcraft which the middle classes of London believe it to be. Utilising skill over technology (because none was available in these times) is a welcome break to the futuristic movies of recent times and its great so see a movie held up solely by its plot and cast rather than CGI (although used in the London recreation) and sci-fi. (with Avatar as the exception!!)
Okay, so to be honest, I did kind of doze off in the middle but only because it was late and I was tired but the finale on the "under development" Tower Bridge was breathtaking and the special effects of recreating a ever generating "New London" was beautifully created.
See this if...................you fancy a good ole' British Crime Thriller
It's James Bond for the Early London Age and the fact that the weaponry is basic and the backdrops were stunningly re-created made it even more attractive.
Ritchie's new Muse, Mark Strong (since the Hollywood departure of Jason Statham) appearing in back to back Ritchie films was again awesome and the Watson role taken on my Jude Law was in my opinion one of his best.
I read that the Holmes Deerstalker only appears in a single paragraph in one book and the curved pipe was only introduced by a stage actor playing the part who was so vain as to state "the straight pipe obscures my face, change it!!" and these 2 minor occurrences has led to one of the most recognisable silhouettes in history but apparently not to be. Holmes is a bare knuckle, drunk, womaniser who lives for the chase and in my opinion made the character far more likable than the previously envisaged British Poirot!
The plot is great with the apparent "Rising from the Grave" of one of London's most notorious villain's but Ritchie manages to keep it real by the apparent use of trickery rather than magic and witchcraft which the middle classes of London believe it to be. Utilising skill over technology (because none was available in these times) is a welcome break to the futuristic movies of recent times and its great so see a movie held up solely by its plot and cast rather than CGI (although used in the London recreation) and sci-fi. (with Avatar as the exception!!)
Okay, so to be honest, I did kind of doze off in the middle but only because it was late and I was tired but the finale on the "under development" Tower Bridge was breathtaking and the special effects of recreating a ever generating "New London" was beautifully created.
See this if...................you fancy a good ole' British Crime Thriller
12, Avatar
So here Goes........since starting this Blog there has been one movie I have been looking forward to more than most and I finally got to see the full Real3D experience on Dec 27th. What a Ride!!!
Set to be the fastest $1Billion movie ever made and also primed to overtake Titanic (Cameron again!) as the highest grossing movie ever J.C has once again confirmed himself as Mr Blockbuster. From Alien to Terminator and the Abyss to Rambo II Cameron has excelled as a Writer, Director and Producer and in every case they have been epic - whole worlds created to deliver astonishment and awe as to what is actually capable with story and character plots to match and if not already confirmed as one, the guy is fast becoming a legend!
So with the Cameron gushing over its time to speak about Avatar.
I had extremely high expectations and was totally amazed that everything I expected did not even come close to what I actually saw. Pandora is an amazing re-creation of a forest world and as with Endor in Return of the Jedi it is beautifully set and being 3D made it even more awesome!!! The idea behind the story as excellent and totally drew you into to the conflict between the 2 races. You want the locals to reign supreme as their beliefs of being one with the planet and its elements is heartwarming to the end.
You are sucked into watching our hero, Sully, go through the pain of potentially betraying his own kind but also falling in love with Neytiri (Uhura from the new Star Trek film, although you would never guess)and understanding their pain and exactly how wrong the Humans can be. Excellent performances from Michelle Rodriguez (Fast & Furious)and Giovanni Ribsi (Kip Raines in Gone in 60 Seconds) carried Hollywood Calibre and the Colonel, played by Stephen Lang was one of the Hardest Men ever seen in movie!! - I think he would have eaten Rambo for breakfast!!!
I could go one all day telling you about the creatures and the floating mountains and the marine Weaponry, the ships and the Alien III Inspired walkers but to be honest I still would not do it the justice it deserves.
Its 3 hour duration passes like lightening and at the end you are left totally satisfied. not in a very long time have I used the term "best movie ever" but I think the time has come...
See this if.............You want to see the BEST MOVIE EVER!!! (and 3D is a must!)
Set to be the fastest $1Billion movie ever made and also primed to overtake Titanic (Cameron again!) as the highest grossing movie ever J.C has once again confirmed himself as Mr Blockbuster. From Alien to Terminator and the Abyss to Rambo II Cameron has excelled as a Writer, Director and Producer and in every case they have been epic - whole worlds created to deliver astonishment and awe as to what is actually capable with story and character plots to match and if not already confirmed as one, the guy is fast becoming a legend!
So with the Cameron gushing over its time to speak about Avatar.
I had extremely high expectations and was totally amazed that everything I expected did not even come close to what I actually saw. Pandora is an amazing re-creation of a forest world and as with Endor in Return of the Jedi it is beautifully set and being 3D made it even more awesome!!! The idea behind the story as excellent and totally drew you into to the conflict between the 2 races. You want the locals to reign supreme as their beliefs of being one with the planet and its elements is heartwarming to the end.
You are sucked into watching our hero, Sully, go through the pain of potentially betraying his own kind but also falling in love with Neytiri (Uhura from the new Star Trek film, although you would never guess)and understanding their pain and exactly how wrong the Humans can be. Excellent performances from Michelle Rodriguez (Fast & Furious)and Giovanni Ribsi (Kip Raines in Gone in 60 Seconds) carried Hollywood Calibre and the Colonel, played by Stephen Lang was one of the Hardest Men ever seen in movie!! - I think he would have eaten Rambo for breakfast!!!
I could go one all day telling you about the creatures and the floating mountains and the marine Weaponry, the ships and the Alien III Inspired walkers but to be honest I still would not do it the justice it deserves.
Its 3 hour duration passes like lightening and at the end you are left totally satisfied. not in a very long time have I used the term "best movie ever" but I think the time has come...
See this if.............You want to see the BEST MOVIE EVER!!! (and 3D is a must!)
11, St Trinians 2
I was not sure how to approach this one. I enjoyed the first film because I loved the originals and it stayed true to its roots, being based entirely on the school grounds and focusing on the actual students but as for the Sequel, I was not entirely sold.
The cast stayed loyal with additional talent including Tennant and Harding but it just seemed to lack something. The jokes were tedious, Sarah Harding came across like she had nothing better to and Tennant was slightly odd??
There were some high points though. Colin Firth was hilarious, Gemma Arterton was as sassy as expected and the girl playing the "CHAV" totally stole the show - it was worth the entrance fee alone to chuckle at the way she portrayed the character which felt closer to home that I hoped it would.
The kids loved it and I am sure it will be gracing the DVD cabinet soon but I think certain parts of the movie made it daft - The story was believable (slightly), after all, Shakespeare could easily have been female!!! and who would not hope that a private girls school was actually like that!! I have 2x daughters ready to sign up but I think the "reality dream" was dampened by the possessed head girl, floating 6 feet above the bed - in my eyes it was one step too far, made it stupid rather than funny and whilst writing this feel that I am getting too old for this Sh....
Cynical I am not, so to round up - it was okay. Don't expect an Oscar winning performance from the Blond "Girl Aloud" but a cracking little cameo from Ricky(Kaiser Chiefs) Wilson was amusing at the beginning and the uniforms will still do it for you!!!
See this if.....................You want to watch a no-brainer!!
The cast stayed loyal with additional talent including Tennant and Harding but it just seemed to lack something. The jokes were tedious, Sarah Harding came across like she had nothing better to and Tennant was slightly odd??
There were some high points though. Colin Firth was hilarious, Gemma Arterton was as sassy as expected and the girl playing the "CHAV" totally stole the show - it was worth the entrance fee alone to chuckle at the way she portrayed the character which felt closer to home that I hoped it would.
The kids loved it and I am sure it will be gracing the DVD cabinet soon but I think certain parts of the movie made it daft - The story was believable (slightly), after all, Shakespeare could easily have been female!!! and who would not hope that a private girls school was actually like that!! I have 2x daughters ready to sign up but I think the "reality dream" was dampened by the possessed head girl, floating 6 feet above the bed - in my eyes it was one step too far, made it stupid rather than funny and whilst writing this feel that I am getting too old for this Sh....
Cynical I am not, so to round up - it was okay. Don't expect an Oscar winning performance from the Blond "Girl Aloud" but a cracking little cameo from Ricky(Kaiser Chiefs) Wilson was amusing at the beginning and the uniforms will still do it for you!!!
See this if.....................You want to watch a no-brainer!!
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