Me,My Life & I

I just posted my first news item on Whedonesque! I'm surprised I got there first.
If you care:

There it is.

This got me a little bit happy.
Dunno why,I just usually find all the Whedon related things later than everyone else so can't post.

Until Next Time

I'm blogging because I don't know how else to do this.My friends' mum just died and I have just realised all over again how lucky I am to have the mother I have.This has made me realise just how short life can be and how I should really show my mum I care more rather than just assume that she knows.So mum,if you ever read this,I love you a lot.Please guys,if you pray,please pray for her family and friends at this awful time.I just can't believe it.

Hey all,I'm on a roll tonight! This post is on the subject of my much loved genius Joss Whedon and his long time accomplice Drew Goddard (ahh the Buffy days.) Cabin In The Woods,here we go...

I'm not sure how much chat outwith the general Whedon and Goddard fan bases there has been about this film,I know I've mentioned it once or twice on here. http://unpolished-diamond-x.blog.co.uk/2008/11/20/whedon-back-on-the-horse-5071634/ Basically its horror all original like,as far as I can tell. It's seemingly a comment on the horror genre as a whole as it seems to be taking stereotypes and either twisting them,exploiting them or turning them on their heads.Fun.

Enough chatter,here's the posters:

Now I have one little problem with them, whilst they do make sense on their own I kinda feel you have to see all of them together to get the gist of what's going on with this movie. I feel the last one is especially clear about it all.

I love the fact that they just scream Joss Whedon though - he's always been one for irony,juxtaposition and taking the obvious and twisting it upside down and inside out.

I like the simplicity, you know what this is gonna be by looking at the colours, main picture and tag lines. It's all about setting expectations and then tearing them apart I feel.

I'm really excited about this because Drew Goddard is a fantastic director,really very much so.I love everything I've seen of his and am really looking forward to seeing what he's done here.

The script,penned by Whedon and Goddard together,should be great if handled well by the actors.

Overall,it should be a great ride. I guess we'll have to wait till next February to find out.

Your thoughts on the posters,the rumours,the guys involved...anything?

Until Next Time

Hey all,hope you're well.Well I visited my favourite place again the other night and this time it was to check out Sandra Bullock's latest movie, The Proposal. I must say that I was expecting to enjoy a typical rom com, but I actually enjoyed it much more than I expected to...

Firstly it was funnier than I expected. The humour wasn't your typical teen/young adult humour, it was witty and original. Ryan Reynolds is hilarious as always and Sandra Bullock plays off him perfectly. A very funny pairing.

Secondly then the drama was good, and the decent delivery by the leads greatly contributed to my enjoyment of the aspect I usually find most tedious in your typical rom coms. So with the humour taking the lead and the drama coming in pretty good, this film was very strong.

A third good factor was the supporting cast, all of whom were hilariously funny when appropriate and again strong on drama when it was required. This good supporting cast rounded out the film nicely and especially noteworthy is Oscar Nunez as the recurring Mexican.

So yep,a good,fun night out. Give it a go.

Until Next Time

OOH THE TRAILER!

I've done this once before,for the Public Enemies trailer,but I figured I'd keep an eye out for trailers I find interesting and then do a little post about them as they come out.So kids, today's topic of discussion is the newly released trailer for Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland.

As you may or may not know, I've been following this film for quite some time (see a blog I posted last November when the first pictures of Johnny Depp as the Mad Hatter were released. http://unpolished-diamond-x.blog.co.uk/2008/11/20/jd-as-mad-hatter-first-pic-5071372/ )

Head on over to http://www.filmjunk.com to catch the trailer and an interesting article about it.

Well I can tell from the trailer I'm going to love this film. I could kind of already tell, originally from the cast,crew and director and then subsequently from the character stills and concept art pics. But the trailer has really solidified my opinion so far. It looks strangely creepy, but at the same time completely magical. Much more Lewis Carroll than the first Disney interpretation and I'm pleased about that.That's why Tim Burton is perfect for this, he's well versed in delivering on the werid!

Overall I love the look and feel of the film that I've taken from the trailer. Again I echo what I said in the post about JD as the Mad Hatter, it does look oh so Burton-esque. It's a great trailer that's made me even more excited about the release. All of the characters look fantastic - Johnny Depp is gonna steal the show I feel, but hey, I'm utterly biased.

Go have a look if you haven't already and tell me what you think guys.

Until Next Time

Hey all,as promised here is my second review of the night for none other than the hot off the screen new Harry Potter,which I viewed at a sold out performance last night.Enjoy.

Well first off,I was a bit dissapointed. Here's why.

Firstly,the pacing was off and it felt like they included too much from the first part of the book and not enough from the second,and in my opinion better,half. Continously the film felt as though it was building towards events that ultimately never happened as it moved on to building to the next anticlimax.

Secondly,and I said I wouldn't bitch about this because I feel they should be viewed seperately but you have to compare the book and film to a certain extent,they missed out too much.Like really.The Order of the Phoenix was pretty bad for changing stuff but this one just went all out.Dumbledore's funeral was one of the most moving scenes in all seven of the books and they didn't have it,instead replacing it with some cheesy 'lets all shove our wands in the air' simultaneous action.To me,the fight at Hogwarts at the end of the sixth book would have made for some stunning film footage if they'd shot it right,and I was really looking forward to seeing it play out,with Snape killing Dumbledore being a climax.Instead,it doesn't even happen,making the presence of the death eaters in Hogwarts actually completely inexplicable if Malfoy was meant to be killing Dumbledore,and the end of the film seem like a complete anticlimax.Also,they made a mistake in missing out the fact that Dumbledore paralyses Harry because if the Harry on screen had been the Harry Potter of the books who goes in fighting all the time,he would have stepped in instead of watching as a gang of death eaters clearly geared themselves up to murder his beloved Dumbledore.Grr,too many innacuracies for my fan girl likings.

My last complaint is that some parts seemed to me as though if you hadn't read the books you wouldn't get them.Perhaps they were there only to please fans of the books,who Warner Brothers so royally pissed off by pushing back the release date.But I doubt it.One example of this is when Harry is speaking to Proffessor McGonnagal about getting to sit potions and she's listing off the exam types and the grades etc.If you hadn't read the books,you wouldn't have understood what on earth they were talking about,seen as how OWL's were barely mentioned in the fifth film.However I did KIND OF like the arrogant attitude that they've taken,assuming that no character needs an introduction and that their audience knows whats happening.Whilst this is probably for the most part applicable and true,there will be some first timers amongst the audience and I really feel that for them this latest installment will be entirely foreign and pretty much unintelligable.

Now,the good parts,and the stuff that actually made me like it despite my dissapointment.

Firstly,acting has improved all around.Where in the past I've found Michael Gambon's portrayal of Dumbledore to be very different from the kind hearted old man we see in the books,I finally seen some more Dumbledoresque things about him - the knitting patterns bit being delivered exquisately for example. I have high hopes for his portrayal of a younger Dumbledore in films 7/8. Dan Radcliffe has certainly improved,I'd put that down to Equus.Rupert Grint had always been my favourite of the three leads in terms of acting capability but this time around he really gets his teeth into the humour and we get a glance of him in his comfort zone I think.Emma Watson still doesn't really do it for me as Hermoine,but she's not terrible.Helena Bonham Carter delieverd a chilling performance as Bellatrix, amping it up from the nutter we saw last time around.I was a bit uncomfortable with her strangely sexualised attitude towards Draco though...Speaking of,Tom Felton really did steal the show.He's been perfect for Malfoy since the very beginning,but this film really did allow him to step up to the mark I always knew he was capable of and he blew me away as the troubled and scared,highly pressured Malfoy.

Secondly,the humour was great giving it a bit of a lighter tone in comparison to the previous two installments.Less angst and more of the fun you need for a summer film. The overuse of the word snogging did get on my nerves though.

Third off the romantic elements were dealt with nicely,and not as in your face as the Harry-Cho set up of Goblet of Fire and Order of the Phoenix. The scene after Lavender first kisses Ron,when Harry finds Hermoine upset,was really very moving.Watson still annoyed me,but it was touching.

Fourth the muisc was great.But then again it's always been good in the Potter films.My favourite piece was what appears to be Harry and Ginny's theme.Very beautiful and it relfects the relationship we see portrayed in the books very well.

Finally,whilst I bitched up above about the cutting out of stuff,where they added parts I did like them.For example the Burrow getting burnt down almost reduced me to tears.That's probably because I know the Weasley family and all that the Burrow represents,and it just saddenned me to see it up in flames like that.

Other things that I liked about this film include Luna's Gryffindor Lion headpiece - so awesome! The inclusion of the Pigmy Puff and how Luna couldn't take her eyes off it on the train. The way the Slug Club was dealt with. The inclusion of minor characters such as Cormac,Blaise and the other Slytherin's that Malfoy hangs around with (I can't remember their names). The inlclusion of the 'Malfoy Stomps on Harry and Hides Him' scene on the train. Dumbledore's visit to the Orphanage. The performance of the young Tom Riddle. The scene in the cave - Gambon was very good here particularly. And the end when Fawkes flew away was pretty moving aswell.

Overall,I did enjoy this film,but not as much as I'd hoped to.It had the potential to be a lot better and I feel like the ending didn't quite leave me as anxious about what was going to happen in the seventh and eighth films as the ending of the book left me wondering about the seventh book.However,it wasn't a bad night out and I'm sure I'll probably see it again.Don't compare it to the book and it's a good enough magic movie.But of course that is impossible to do and when compared to its literary counter part,it really does fall short.

Overall I'd say 7/10. Not my film of the summer,but worth a watch.

Your Thoughts?

Until Next Time

Hey all,hope you're well.I've got a couple of movie reviews for you tonight,this first one is a bit overdue,but hopefully I'll still remember all I want to say about it.Here we go.

First lets talk Johnny Depp.He was really rather great I feel.He gives a really interesting performance, presenting a cocky,sexy and above all confident character in a setting that is so unsteady and uncertain.He shows the 'living for the moment' nature of John Dillinger the man perfectly and I couldn't help but melt at the line "I like baseball,movies,good clothes,fast cars....and you.What else do you need to know?" You sympathise with him even though he is,by stereotypical definition, a 'bad' guy. Part of this I think may be the humour that FBI front man Melvin Purvis (Christian Bale) is without. It makes him more human.

So Johnny Depp was good. No surprises. Lets talk Bale.

I didn't like him. I know the character was supposed to be ordinary and kind of cold,but Bale played it on the verge of boring,and he was almost wooden again.I must say his performance has taken a downhill path over the years.Looking back at American Psycho you wouldn't even think it's the same actor giving these mediocre performances.So he didn't match up to Depp,but I don't think he was given that much to work with in terms of character to be honest.

The film is shot very interestingly,a lot of hand held,shaky cam - makes you feel very much like you're on this journey with Dillinger. The sound mixing is off,and I don't know if that's on purpose,but there are numerous points in the film where there should be a sound,but there's not.For instance at one point John Dillinger gets into a car and shuts the door.This would usually be accompanied by the sound of the door shutting, but the noise is absent.Also at some points in the film I really struggled to hear what characters were actually saying.A third point about sound is that the sound effects were outrageous - the gun fire sounding more like explosions than anything else.This wacky sound accompanied by the out of the ordinary camera work makes for an interesting ride in terms of technology.

The story was interesting and the character of John Dillinger was made very appealing. I don't think it seemed to touch on the fact enough that he was a people's hero,yet a public enemy.He gave the people in the banks their own money back,taking only what belonged to the bank.He was somewhat of a celebrity all the while being hunted by the government as their public enemy number one.I loved the idea of this individual against the establishment type thing that the trailer seemed to portray,if you look back at my post about this trailer you'll notice that.However I don't think the film seemed to convey much of this message.

The use of music was fantastic, the repeated use of Otis Taylor's '10 Million Slaves' during the robberies is noteworthy.Costume is fantastic and very authentic in terms of period.

Overall I would give this film an 8/10 because I found it thoroughly enjoyable and thought the story to be a gripping one as I became more and more intrigued by Dillinger as the film progressed. I think this may very well be my film of the year so far.

Highlights For Me:

Lawyer:They're extraditing you
Dillinger:Where to?
Lawyer:Indianna
Dillinger:Why?I have absoloutely nothing I want to do in Indianna.

Purvis:What keeps you awake at nights Mr. Dillinger?
Dillinger:Coffee.

Your Thoughts?

Until Next Time

Beareth all things
Believeth all things
Hopeth all things
Endureth all things.

1 Corinthians 13:7

Hey all,hope you're well. First things first,this is late,sorry about that,I've been both busy and stressed,setting up a situation that does not lend itself to blogging. Anyhoo,June was a fun month in some ways, but in others it's brought me straight back down to rock bottom again. Emotional roller coaster they say,that is most definately not an exaggeration. Anyhoo, the show must go on...

Frenzy

The 6th of June marked the fourth year running of this Christian Music Festival,and my third time attending (I missed last year due to my holiday in Florida). It was different than other years, and I'd say the last time I went,2007,was probably the best of all the times I've been. David Crowder Band and Starfield were the highlights of the day, the exception being David Crowder done his usual routine that features in every one of his sets. Another highlight was that it was my mum's first year there so that was good. I felt like it was a bit of the shame that it wasn't as good a line up this year as it's been previously as it probably wasn't the best year to first experience it. Oh,and highlight of the day,a powercut during the Third Day set - we just kept on going

Edinburgh International Film Festival

This was my first year with any involvment in the film festival and I found it to be a pretty enjoyable and interesting experience. We went for two days with school and seen a film both days and listened to some talks. On the first day we watched A Boy Called Dad, a film about a teenage boy named Robbie who becomes a father at 14.The film was very moving and well done,a good example of British drama.The talks in the afternoon aren't as memorable for me,although we did have a very interesting piece from the Leith Agency - the advertising agency responsible for the Irn Bru ad campaign.The second day we watched a documentary about B-Boy championships called Turn It Loose,which I enjoyed immensely. Overall this was a very interesting experience for me as over the two days we got to hear from producers,directors and various other credited roles about the film making process.Good stuff for a film geek like myself.

Film And Television

Film

My Sister's Keeper - Very moving,although I enjoyed the book better.

A Boy Called Dad - I never did get around to reviewing the films from the film festival but this one would get a 6/10 from me.Good performances all around.

Turn It Loose - Most interesting.I enjoyed it more than I did A Boy Called Dad.A well done documentary that is rather eye opening.

I also bought I'm Not There on dvd this month,along with I Now Pronounce You Chuck And Larry,although I've watched neither of them all the way through yet.

Television

Dollhouse - Continues to be of interest,although I've now fallen behind.So far I can say it's not up to the same standard as Whedon's other shows,and is getting a bit repetitive. But I suppose that might've changed in the episodes I have missed.

Buffy - I started from the beginning again a couple of days ago.It just will always be one of my favourites.Got to love the early shows aswell,before everybody got all angsty.

The Day The Music Died

June 25th,I had the news on silent and was chatting to my mum then it flashed up BREAKING NEWS:MICHAEL JACKSON HAS DIED. I was speechless.Not so long ago I'd sat with my mum whilst we tried to get tickets for his London shows.I must say I'm truly moved by this.He had an influence on music that cannot be described and everyone across the world,whether they love or hate him,knows Michael Jackson.I never ever did believe he was guilty of child molestation,and would never have supported anyone who I thought had done such things by buying their music and trying to get tickets for their shows.I always thought he was strange but looking back at his documentary interviews and footage he was also without doubt a kindhearted man.That's what makes it so sad that he's gone now.He was very special and I don't think there will be another Michael Jackson in a hurry.My thoughts and prayers go out to his family,especially his children now left without who was apparently a very loving and devoted father. RIP Michael Jackson,King of Pop.

Hair

Fucked.Well and truly.

Quotability

Angel[Big Brother] - And am I to eat the biscuit?
Big Brother - No.There will be no eating of the biscuits.

Jamie - Is it big enough to crawl through?
Kelsie - Jamie,you walk through it.

Overall

This has been an alright month but as it's ultimately messed me up emotionally yet again,I'm reluctant to call it enjoyable.So far July is enjoyable,but maybe that's because I'm without the stress of school.There should be a few more interesting things to report next month.

Until Next Time

Hey all,hope you're well.It's been a while since I first seen this film,but I just went to go see it a second time the other day so it's fresh again.Here we go...

Firstly,when compared to the book,this film falls short.In part this may be due to the changes they've made, taking out important character points and most noticeably drastically changing the ending.However I think a more reasonable explanation is that it just might be that the saying 'A picture is worth a thousand words' just might not be applicable here.The book reaches places that the film does not and frankly,cannot.But I tend to feel that this is almost always the case with films based on books.So lets move on.

The film itself is very,very moving.I found intense sympathy in myself for every one of the characters,except Cameron Diaz' Sara Fitzgerald,mother of the dying daughter. She to me appeared selfish and motivated entirely by her own desire to not be without her daughter and not by a pure want for her daughter to live. I cried a lot the first time I watched, and then upon viewing it for a second time found myself just as upset.

The story will capture any viewer and due to the use of flashbacks and narration giving the viewpoint of each character I feel that every member of an audience will find themselves relating to one or more of these troubled characters.

In terms of performances little Abigail Breslin pulls it out of the bag yet again, delivering a solid and moving performance. Soffia Vassilieva blew me away as cancer stricken teen Kate. Cameron Diaz worked well with the rather unsympathetic character that the script seems to have presented her with and I found it to be a refreshing change to see her in something other than a chick flick.

Nothing special in terms of cinematography or music here, but again as noted above, the use of flashbacks and narration from different characters is used effectively.

Overall I would give this film, when not being compared to the book, a 7/10. However when being compared to the plot and characterisation offered by its literary counter part, I would rank this a 5/10.
However if you're up for a weepy,go give it a go.

Until Next Time