Movie Review - Scott Pilgrim versus the World
This is an odd one, Michael Cena (who seems to turn up in anything where there's a need for a dorky skinny lad) plays a bit of a teenage waster, a bassist in a wannabe rock band in a world which is a curious mix of snowy Canadian urban limbo, teenage rock fantasy, comic book and video game.
I understand that this is not a genre that will appeal to everyone and the reviews and opinions that I've heard have been pretty polarized. Again as is so often the case, there was a bit of a split in StuffyWorld. The blessed Mrs S took the "what was the point of that" position and the fifteen year old Charlie found it great fun.
The deciding vote then goes to the fifty+ year old, ageing rock-god with a penchant for comic book heroes and a
passing familiarity with the computer game sub culture. Well, I found it an amusing diversion, not as full of laughs as one might hope but with a whimsical sense of humour that, as Mrs S pointedly pointed out, "you either get or you don't". (she didn't)
Best advice that I can offer is that if you are quite happy spending 2 hours in front of a computer screen and achieving little more than beating that tricky boss on level 19 you'll like it and if you're not that sort of person, you won't.
Interestingly for such a lightweight film I somehow found myself really caring about a happy ending for Scott and the love interest, a delightful Mary Elisabeth Winstead, so, a qualified win for the overgrown child that hides within the cynical and embittered film critic,
A haiku v the world
Comic book antics
In computer game story
Winsome and wins some
Movie Review - The Expendables - better title, the Incomprehensibles
Well it's a nice idea, half a dozen 80's action heroes sending themselves up in a good-natured romp, but that's not what this is. You'd expect from the billing that Schwarzenegger and Willis might appear for more than a 3 minute chat in a church, you might expect Mickey Rourke to be involved in the movie rather than delivering his dialogue in the form of a mumbling soliloquy to a mirror. Realistically you're never going to expect Dolph Lundgren to act but it would have been nice if someone had told him what to do.
If you were a bit of a movie buff, you might hope that Sylvester Stallone who, many years ago wrote a good movie (Paradise Alley since you ask) would opt for the route of amusing send-up, when poor plot, unbelievable and interminable action scenes and very silly characterisation would actually add value, but most of the time he seems to be trying to play it straight, as if we're going to go along with it out of pity maybe?
There's a lot of shooting, much exploding, tons of fighting, of the relatively younger folk Jet Li is wasted in this supercharged mobility scooter of a vehicle although Jason Statham stood out playing pretty much the same character that he usually does.
As previously mentioned the only value Arnold and Bruce bring is to make the cast list both more impressive and very close to an offence under the trades descriptions act.
I really, really, wanted to like this movie, I found myself barely tolerating it.
What a shame
Geriatric Sly
Too Botox'd to move an eye
Fight and fly, but why?
Movie review - Toy Story 3
I can't believe it. That I took my little girl to watch the first Toy Story nearly 5 years ago, last weekend she took me and the missus to see the latest in the canon, Toy Story 3 in all enveloping 3D.
It's a real tribute I guess, to Pixar that they can turn out a movie, an animated movie that actually moves people, almost every one who's mentioned seeing it and most (proper) reviews of this film mention tears or emotional lumps in throats.
This seems to be a uniquely Pixar skill and a still developing one, I still get emotional watching Cars, Monsters inc is a very moving story and the love and affection portrayed in the early stages of Up is a powerful piece of movie-making. It takes real skill to make you identify with, and care about a cartoon character no matter how well they're drawn or cgi'd. Remember Bambi ?
Incidentally Rick Astley popped round to borrow my Pixar movies last week, I told him" Rick, you can borrow Cars, the Incredibles and Monsters inc but I'm never gonna give you Up".
So apart from the emotional content what's new in TS3? well, not a lot, it's a great formula, Woody bangs the loyalty drum, Andy grows up, Buzz gets rebooted in Spanish, and the Ken and Barbie thing works very well. To be honest, it's hard to criticise, it just works well, lots of good gags, some genuine moments of tension, good moral sense and just enough sweetness and light tinged with pathos to generate that throaty lumpiness, (I didn't cry).
I, my (very resistant to emotional manipulation) lovely wife and my rapidly adult-heading baby girl all enjoyed it, and that's a very good endorsement.
An animated and cryptic haiku ?
Would we leave Woody
Would Andy, Buzz off? No way!
But what do hugs hide?
