Month: February 2012

Review: The Muppets

The Muppets (IMDb)

There was no way I was not going to like this movie. Let’s look at the list of things I like:

I had a shit-eating grin on my face for most all of this flick. OK, so some of the best gags are given away in the trailer (“Hey, fart shoes!” – incidentally, that joke was one of the ones that the veteran Muppets puppeteers thought was too low-brow for the Muppets, too Apatow), but there’s still gold throughout the movie.
And it’s a cameo-fest, too. Dave Grohl plays to type as Animool, an alterna-Animal, Zack Galifianakis plays to type as a hobo, and Whoopi Goldberg plays, well, herself. Unfortunately, a Ricky Gervais cameo was cut, which is disappointing, but there’s a sneaky glimpse of him in the final song and dance routine.

If you like the Muppets, go see this and be happy. If you don’t like the Muppets, don’t go see this, as every time Miss Piggy opens her mouth you’ll be wishing she’s quickly and quietly made into sausages. In fact, I love the Muppets, and still wished that on her. No-one likes Miss Piggy. No-one.

Review: Chronicle

I set about seeing this flick with no preconceptions about it. I’d not seen a review on Ain’t It Cool, nor had I heard Kermode review it. I hadn’t even seen the trailer. The only thing I knew about it I’d read on the Odeon website when checking out the show times, which was nothing but a brief synopsis at best. Whilst this wasn’t a particularly convoluted or complex movie that benefited from not knowing the plot outline beforehand, it certainly was refreshing to go in to the flick completely oblivious to it. I didn’t know the cast or director, nor how well it had performed at the box office.

As a result, I loved it. Great performances, nicely shot (I suspect directing a found footage movie can be challenging), and great special FX on a relatively modest budget. The development of the relationship between Andrew and his family may have been a touch heavy-handed, but not detrimentally so. The only minor criticism I have is that the final act of city destruction was a bit whizz-bang-flash that wasn’t in keeping with the rest of the movie, but I suspect that was probably intentional. I dunno.
Anyhoo, I enjoyed it. Great performances from the leads, who I’d not come across before, but who I’d think are destined for bigger things. And to answer Matt’s question: yes, I do think it’s worthwhile seeing a movie knowing as little about it as possible. This time, for me, it was by accident rather than through good planning, but it felt good not having my opinion tainted before entering the cinema. Though given my insatiable devouring of gossip on Ain’t It Cool, I suspect this will be the last time for a while that that happens. 

The Bourne Legacy trailer

Trailer: The Bourne Legacy

So there’s a trailer for the latest movie in the Bourne franchise up, and you know what? It looks great. Sure, it’s not a Damon/Greengrass product, but Jeremy Renner seems to slot in to the highly-trained action hero role with particular ease.

Renner is hot at the moment, what with taking over the Bourne franchise, as well as being primed to take over the Mission: Impossible franchise once Tom Cruise has had enough. Credit where it’s due: the kid’s got some chops.

And special no thanks to Team America: World Police for not allowing me to speak, type, or even think, of Matt Damon without saying his name to myself in the style of his character in the movie. A refresher.

Just write, dammit

I’ve made it my aim this year to try and write more. Not through any misplaced sense of self-importance that what I have to say is interesting, more that any flexing of the creative muscles can only be good for you, and writing has a lower barrier of entry than, say, painting. For the record, I’m not taking up painting. Moreover, there’s few easier ways than blogging to get one in to the writing habit. So here we are. I’m going to do my utmost to commit my only-vaguely coherent thoughts to e-paper as often as is appropriate. I’m not setting myself an agenda or theme about which I should write; on the contrary, I have no extensive knowledge on any topic that would lend itself to a single-subject blog.

So, in lieu of not being able to write about what I know (as the old adage goes), given I don’t really know shit about shit, I’m going to valiantly attempt to write about what I’d like to know. A subtle distinction, one which will become all the more evident as I attempt to wax lyrical on a subject about which I know precious little. I suppose there’ll be posts reviewing films or books, posts about technology, and possibly posts about politics or sport (I’ll really be pushing the bounds of what I know with those last two), but most all of them will be written with the purpose of furthering my knowledge of the subject in question. And, of course, with providing all (both?) of you lucky readers with a witty, erudite, informative commentary. Lovely.

And after that well-meaning and intentioned introduction, I suspect I’ll disappear into months of writer’s block and not post again until this time next year. You’re welcome.