WALL·E (2008)

Film review: WALL·E (2008), directed by Andrew Stanton

In the future, humans have deserted the Earth in giant, luxury star cruisers, because it was too polluted and full of garbage everywhere to support life. This we learn through some B&L brand commercials that come on occasionally, which feature the only non-animated character in the whole film (played by Fred Willard). Behind them, humans left a crew of WALL·E robots, to tidy the place up a bit, so that in five year's time, humans can return to a much nicer environment.

Five years turned into 700, and the only robot still left out there, is WALL·E ("voiced" by Ben Burtt), who is still hard at work. His only companion, and the only sign of life, is a cockroach. One day, a space ship lands, and deposits a shiny, sleek, white robot, who flies around scanning the environment, and occasionally shooting at anything that moves. She calls herself EVE (voiced by Elissa Knight), and she absolutely won't hold hands with the old rust bucket of a droid that is WALL·E, but he persists.

He even takes her back to his place, where he shows her his most recent treasure - a little, green plant. EVE grabs the plant and shoves it inside a compartment, and goes into complete lockdown mode with only the symbol of a green leaf blinking on her, leaving WALL·E perplexed. When the spaceship returns for her, he tags along and finds himself with a whole number of other robots, as well as the humans ... who are busy sitting in hover chairs watching TV all day every day and have forgotten pretty much everything else.

Can WALL·E rescue EVE, from whatever she needs rescuing from? Why is the plant so significant? And will the humans ever get off their back sides and return to Earth?

Cars (2006)

Film review: Cars (2006), directed by John Lasseter and Joe Ranft

From Disney and Pixar comes the animated story of a world inhabited by antropomorphic cars, and there are no humans. Which apparently gets debated a lot, because who builds the cars and everything? But let's let that slide because it's just a piece of fun, a kid's movie, so restrain your disbelief and go with it.

Famous rookie race car Lightning McQueen (voiced by Owen Wilson) is about to win the hugely popular Piston Cup, but he ties with two other cars, amongst them the bold Chick Hicks (Michael Keaton), and has to travel all the way to California to take part in a race to settle the score once and for all.

But, in transit with Mack the truck (John Ratzenberger), McQueen slips out of the truck by accident and ends up on Route 66, in a little town called Radiator Springs, which saw its better days before the big interstate was built. There, because his arrival causes some considerable damage, he's sentenced to community service - to fix up the road he so carelessly managed to ruin.

But can the self-obsessed McQueen get to California in time for the race, or will he be stuck in "hillbilly hell" forever?

Mary Poppins (1964)

Film review: Mary Poppins (1964), directed by Robert Stevenson

There are a number of films "everyone" has seen that I haven't. Mary Poppins was one of them, until very recently. There were a few bits I had seen here and there, but the whole movie, from start to finish? Nope, not at all.

Mary Poppins follows a well to do family in 1910s London. The two children are delinquents, like they normally are in films that require nannies, and in fact, their nanny has had enough of them always running off, so she quits. Their father, a serious banker (David Tomlinson) writes a very serious advertisement for The Times, but the children have written an advertisement too.

Because their one is from the heart and they want a kind, rosy-cheeked nanny who will play with them, their father reacts with a "bah, humbug!" and tears it up. Somehow, the torn up letter flies out of the chimney, and when they are going to interview applicants, all of them get blown away (literally) and only one remain: Mary Poppins (Julie Andrews).

Enchanted (2007)

Film review: Enchanted (2007), directed by Kevin Lima

Once upon a time, in an animated fairytale land called Andalasia, where everyone lives happily ever after, lives a beautiful girl, dancing with the animals around her and dreaming of a prince to come and take her away. She finds one, a real prince, and they are to get married the very next day - except for his wicked stepmother, who doesn't want her reign threatened. She constructs a portal and tricks the bride-to-be into it, to a land where there are no happily ever afters: real-life New York City.

Wide-eyed Giselle (Amy Adams) encounters a cynical father (Patrick Dempsey) and his fairytale-loving daughter, who take her on, thinking she's some sort of escaped mental patient or something. The culture differences are huge, but still, they manage to get along, and find they actually get along rather swimmingly.

Hot on Giselle's tail is the queen's (Susan Sarandon) henchman (Timothy Spall, or Wormtail to fans of Harry Potter - recognised him straight away when I saw the animated version of the character!), an adorable CGI chipmunk who finds he can't actually talk in the real world, and the prince (James Marsden). Will the prince be able to find his bride and bring her back to Andalasia before the queen's henchman manages to get that poisoned apple down her throat?

The Incredibles (2004)

Film review: The Incredibles (2004), directed by Brad Bird

In a world where super powers are real, Mr. Incredible (Craig T Nelson), Frozone (Samuel L Jackson) and Elastigirl (Holly Hunter) are saving the day. At least until the day Mr. Incredible saves a person who really didn't want to be saved, who therefore sues him. One snowball effect later and superheroes are forced underground, to live Perfectly Normal Lives.

Mr. Incredible and Elastigirl settle down and start a family, but 15 years later, working for an insurance company, the former Mr. Incredible is longing for the good old days, when he could be a hero.

And then one day, he gets fired, and gets a call to don his old costume, which could very well change his life ...

Random rant about various Robin Hood adaptations

This is my slightly longer than anticipated comment on ‘Rise and Rise Again’ – 100 YEARS OF ROBIN HOOD: Part Two. Today the Google Alert summary on Richard Armitage actually yielded 100% articles about the actor, as opposed to the former US secretary of state ... and a US murder victim. I'm surprised - and delighted. As the comment turned out to be surprisingly long, well, I can post it here too. Because I can. *cough*

Det är Robin Hood jag vill ... jag vill haaa!

Leaving 2006 aside for a mo, I LOVE the Disney film. I know it almost by heart in Swedish (which, imho, has better voice acting than the original – shock horror). Prince of Thieves is fun in a “yeah Kevin Costner is soooo from Nottingham … not” and the best part is Alan Rickman’s sheriff.

Men in Tights is brilliant (“I am a Robin Hood who DOES have an English accent!”), and features Matthew Porretta as Will Scarlett – the actor who went on to play Robin in that godawful New Adventures series. He left after 20-odd episodes, I believe, which meant that ALL the impetus to watching that show disappeared. The acting for the most part was sub-standard, the scenography and costumes ridiculous, the script atrocious. The ONLY thing that made it watchable was Robin being super-gorgeous, and when he was replaced, well, bye-bye.

Beyond Sherwood Forest was a joke! A painfully bad joke. The Ridley Scott movie I haven’t seen, but hoping to do so now that it’s coming out on DVD.

Robin and his Hoodies

And so, 2006. Thought series one was pretty bad, so didn’t follow series two, just caught the odd episode here or there. Followed series three from the start, because Toby Stephens was set to be in it as Prince John (to my delight, his character much resembled the Disney counterpart!) – and fell in love with Gisborne from episode one! Previously, I had already noted the baddies were a lot more interesting than the goodies, but this just confirmed it.

The Robin character was too obnoxious to really enjoy (and I really WANTED to like him – but the way he treated Much just made him look like a schoolground bully) and on a subsequent re-watch of the whole thing, the only character that there seems to be some sort of depth to is Gisborne. Credit to the actor for making the character come alive, rather than just work with what was on the sheet, which (judging by the rest of the show) wasn’t a lot. That being said, I’ve no qualms whatsoever with Jonas Armstrong, I think he did a really good job. I just didn’t like the character he was playing. And when you, as an audience, is made to root for the bad guy simply because the hero is an arrogant, arrow-toting numbscull (and, which s3 confirmed, had been since he was a child), it just doesn’t work.

Robin lost the love of his life, end of s2, but in s3, he was busy hitting on Kate and the only one that seemed to grieve for Marian, and even REMEMBER her past episode one, was Gisborne. Who killed her! HOW does that work?! It doesn’t and I’m actually glad the show got cancelled. A Robin Hood without Robin Hood (and the Sheriff – Keith Allen was magnificent, bless) just isn’t Robin Hood. S3 was actually a lot stronger than the previous two, so while killing off Marian didn’t make ANY sense from a legend point of view, it made a lot of sense from a dramatic one, as it made the show a lot more interesting. “They killed off Marian – what else are they going to do?” So I have to admit I’ve got a love/hate thing going on with this show. Hate it because it could’ve been a lot better and they could’ve made Robin likable, like he normally is, in any other version ever. Love it because Sheriff Vasey was hilarious and Gisborne was really intriguing as a character.

"Gisborne, did she just manage to write a rather long post and
not once bring up how much she fancies the breeches off you?"
"First time for everything, sir, even for her."
"No mention of Nottingham either. We shall have to have A Word."

Friday fancies

On the train back from work, I saw a guy who seriously looked like Sam Neill. He had glasses and reminded me a lot of this piccy here (from Sirens). Put a smile on my face, that did. Think he got off in Hucknall, so if you look like a '93 Sam Neill in glasses reading this and live in Hucknall - you rock!

Pixar/Disney have announced a Monsters Inc. sequel, apparently. Don't really remember the first one, but it was cute...? The One Show's resident grumpy Brummie Adrian Chiles is defecting to ITV, gasp! How very dares he! Top Gear will be getting a US spin-off. Well done! Top Gear is a brilliant show. I know it's about cars, but why watch it for the motors when the guys are hilarious? Not many people would try to make a rocking chair and a blender from a V8 engine... ;)

One American remake that apparently isn't going ahead at the moment is Torchwood, the Doctor Who spin-off. They were making an American version? What on earth for? I mean, the original wasn't that brilliant... John Barrowman aside. Loving him! He auditioned for the part of Will in Will & Grace once - he didn't get it because they thought he seemed "too straight". Barrowman is homosexual, and he's rather flamboyant and, well, gay. Instead, the role went to heterosexual Eric McCormack... So how'd they work that one out? There was also something on the BBC site mentioning a Torchwood musical, and that Björn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson (of ABBA fame) had been attached to it. Please tell me that was a joke! Björn & Benny - yes please. Torchwood musical? Why d'you want to go and do something like that? Because John Barrowman is a singer and a musical actor as well as a handsome TV actor?

Oh, we've been watching the V remake, with Inara and Wash from Firefly and Juliet from Lost amongst others. Didn't see more than a few minutes or so of the original, so don't have any preconceptions. All I knew was it's alien reptiles posing as humans, and that's about it. Oh yes, and the Sci Fi Channel is now Syfy in the UK as well. Sigh. The new Doctor Who is up and running - and it's looking good! I thought I wouldn't like the new Doctor, but Matt Smith is really rather enjoyable and Karen Gillan is gorgeous. Even though I loved the tenth doctor, the eleventh isn't so bad. The first episode cracked me up, when he was trying all the different foods. Fish fingers with custard. I don't think even my custard afficionado squeeze would be into that.

Lost is progressing at a leisurely pace. Not sure I like the new Claire and Sayid, though. She's still going on about that blasted baby and Sayid is just... weird. Good thing I'm liking the "new" Sawyer, and that pilot guy is surprisingly dishy. Apparently there's just three episodes to go before we hit the big finale. Are they really going to be able to wrap up all the big questions in that time? What's the deal with the Egyptian statue? It's all still up in the air at the moment. The finale is out in America in a month, with the UK to follow suit.

Guess who were on the front cover of the latest Sky magazine, btw? Richard Armitage and Orla Brady! As it's the May issue, it has three pages on Strike Back. There were short interviews with both of them.

"If this whole British Army thing doesn't work out, you can always join my private army.
It's perfectly normal to stare at my half-naked body there. In fact, it's a prerequisite."

If I can find the right leads to the scanner, I'll scan it in. If not, there will be photos, unless someone else scans it in before I get around to it. Richard talks about being exhausted after the training and how he learned how to break someone's neck with his bare hands - and thinks that's a bit scary. Aww. It's basically the stuff that's not mentioned in the interview on the Sky1 Strike Back site. It also has a photo gallery, and other bits and bobs. OH, SNAP! And wallpapers! :D The premiere red carpet gallery has lots of RA pictures as well. Porter mania begins 5 May at 9pm on Sky1.

UK media have reported about the Hitler Downfall meme, because the company behind the film have made a move to remove them off the net. Good luck with that. I've actually got Der Untergang, but haven't seen it yet. Will get around to it at some point.

Et finalement, Sky1 have made another Discworld adaptation: Going Postal, showing in the end of May. I haven't actually read that book, so it'll be interesting to watch. Really enjoyed Hogfather and The Colour of Magic; they were very well done, so Going Postal should be a good watch as well.

Have a nice weekend!