Yes - I am aware how old this is - but awwwwwwwwwwwww! This is how grateful children should always be - not I want this and this and this. If my kid (I don't have kids) grows up to be this grateful I think I'll have done well. Of course, unless he now starts making racist comments on Xbox-Live....
Robert Downey Jr. must be very busy these days - Sherlock Holmes, Iron Man...well actually those are the only two that spring to mind at the moment, but he's definitely having a good few years in the film industry. Following on from the success of the first Holmes film with Downey Jr. as the eccentric genius Sherlock and Jude Law as the reliable war veteran Dr. Watson, A Game of Shadows pitches Sherlock against his grand nemesis; Professor Moriarty - a meticulously evil man of equal wit as our Great Detective - played amiably by Jared Harris. More action, more plot-twists, more displays of cunning, more ridiculous feats and more excellent direction - A Game of Shadows doesn't disappoint.
The budget didn't seem low on the last Holmes film, but I would hazard a guess that it increased a fair amount in making this one. There are explosions a plenty, gunfights, and those cool 'Sherlock vision' fight scenes that show you the step-by-step process taken to defeat a foe. We're reacquainted with some old characters, and introduced to some new (anyone who is a fan of Stephen Fry will not be disappointed) but as you would expect it is Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law who capture our attention. Although there is still some of the friction to be expected between the characters, Watson is a lot less resilient to Holmes and we are reminded that he does care for him despite the mess Holmes manages to drag him and his new wife into. Sherlock is as spectacularly clever and resourceful as he was before, and yet not so much as to make things boring - you will still be surprised that they can get out of the situations they get into, and a lot of the time Sherlock doesn't seem as in control of the situation as he would want the audience to think. I for one like the direction that Guy Ritchie has taken our most beloved of British characters, and applaud the way he always seems to be able to create films that show their intelligence in the final moments as each strand of an intricate web are brought together to give you the satisfaction of 'a plan that comes together'.
Also, Noomi Rapace is in it, who was the star of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo...or at least...I thought she was - there seems to be another girl with a tattoo of a dragon and also Daniel Craig being advertised these days - very confusing.
Probably the best present we could ask for; Melanie Iglesias has given us another Flipbook!!! Check it out, subscribe, and follow her on twitter dudes!
Yeah. Seriously, if anyone wants to get me a Melanie Iglesias for Christmas....
Does anyone remember how good Shrek was? Dreamworks have given us some pretty good animated films, but the Shrek series didn't seem to know when to stop. Do you know how many people didn't realise that Shrek Forever After was actually the fourth film? The third film was so 'meh' that most of my friends, some of whom actually saw the film with me, forgot that it even existed. I too cannot remember what happened in that film, all I know is that Justin Timberlake was in it or something...and there was a wizard of some sort. Anyway. The original Shrek was good, Shrek 2 was still pretty strong, and part of the reason it was strong was because of the focus on support-characters and the introduction of some new faces, favourite among them being the charismatic and cuddly Puss in Boots, adequately voiced by the gem of an actor; Antonio Banderas (Desperado, The Mask of Zorro). To be honest, if there was going to be a spin-off film about any character other than Shrek, it would have to be Puss in Boots, and so there has. And it is again, meh.
It isn't a bad film - the story is fantastical, paying homage to children's tales as well as tongue-in-cheek references to some of the themes in Mexican films and Westerns, and the voice talent is pretty good with Salma Hayek and Zach Galifianakis joining Banderas' feline alter-ego, its just not as memorable as the original material. In Shrek, there were memorable lines and dialogue that you could quote to your friends or repeat obnoxiously when watching it on DVD, and in Shrek 2, Puss in Boots was introduced with the chuckle-some 'cute-cat' scene and a few one-liners, but this isn't really carried to what is essentially an origins story of Puss. There aren't any real gut-busting laugh-out-loud moments, but there are a few sequences that induce a snicker, and there are humorous action-sequences that do border on ridiculous, but that is of course the fun of animated films. It would be unfair to say the storyline was predictable as it sort of gets confusing now and then, but the major twists aren't going to shock you out of your seat.
Honestly, the film is just another average children's outing, but it's still enjoyable. I would doubt that there will be a Puss in Boots trilogy, and the film doesn't really match the iconic introduction of the ginger cat in Shrek 2, but you'll enjoy it for what it is; a fun, action packed adventure set in what must be the Mexican part of whatever fantasy world Shrek lives in, and a little peek into where our swashbuckling friend comes from before he adds to Shrek's agitation.
Well...that was surprising. Serving your country while being allowed to love the person that you love is somehow not as important as children reading the bible in school? Sorry everyone, school is for learning Math, English, Science, perhaps making friends, not so much a bible-session. That is what you have those big fancy churches for - I don't see anyone asking religious leaders to include multiplication tables in their Sunday school...
I don't know much about American politics these days, other than what ol' Philip DeFranco tells me on a weekly basis (not personally, I'm not that cool; I mean through his YouTube uploads) but this has got to be making Obama happy - he doesn't even need to run smear campaigns when these guys do it for him. Just in case you haven't already seen this, here is another video of Rick Perry showing what a fine candidate he is for the US Presidency.
Yes. Oops. Seriously though, this man wants to run a country. A very powerful country. If you think he's bad, try looking at some of the other presidential hopefuls - in particular Michele Bachmann.
I just had to say - why have last year's Premier League winners failed to get into the knock-out stages of the Champions League, and why could they not beat Crystal Palace who aren't even in the same bracket? Probably because our defensive forces have taken a battering and forced us to use players like this:
Don't know why you're running Jonny Evans - unless of course it's to make another awful tackle or because you realise you've lost your man again...
And also probably because we've lost this god of a football player;
This is an otherwise pointless post, but gosh-darnit it's depressing when your side loses easy games. On the other hand, fair play to Basel FC and Crystal Palace, showing that the underdogs can screw with anyone.
I got invited to test The Old Republic again this weekend, which successfully defeated my attempts on getting ahead of my coursework but hey; what can ya do? (rhetorical: do not suggest that I stop playing games and concentrate on my degree, I am well aware of my failings as a human being)
I had been hoping to continue my journey as a Smuggler from my last beta testing, but for some reason the server that my dashing hero was traversing the galaxy on was nowhere to be found, so I started anew with a Jedi Knight. There didn't seem to be a whole lot of difference between this weekend and last weekend, though the game didn't seem as laggy and the characters didn't take as long to load - which is neat, however in some cases certain NPC characters would lose their features and instead look as if they had been submerged in a black oil before walking outside, which looked cool in some respects but obviously wasn't meant to happen. Anyway, the reason I wanted to let you know I have been playing the beta again is because, I definitely didn't get as much satisfaction out of playing the Jedi Knight character as I had when I played as the Smuggler. I think it's just because to play a Jedi, you have to be a Jedi. It was great when I finally earned my lightsaber, and being able to use the force to convince characters to do your bidding is a neat addition to conversations, but I still knew that if I really wanted to be a Jedi Knight character, it just wouldn't feel right to not be the upstanding beacon of hope and honour that the universe needs in these dark times. Not like the Smuggler, who could give a rats ass about hope and honour, was just trying to make his way in the universe, but had a heart of gold deep down. It's the general reason why people prefer Han Solo over Luke Skywalker - Luke, and the Jedi Knight, are obviously heroes, so you expect them to do the right thing and be very noble about it. Han Solo and his Smuggler grouping, you don't really know what to expect from them, but you know that when it comes down to it they're the real heroes that burst in and save the day (see Han's rescue at the end of A New Hope). I like the idea of being a Smuggler who will help missions that aren't ethically dire (like saving a child from murderers) for a price, but still has a code of honour that he won't cross. But, the sacrifice is - no force, and no lightsabers.
So I guess the decision is, what would you rather have?
Jedi - lightsaber, force, inherently good (unless you want to be an evil Jedi) and so unfortunately rather unsatisfying dialogue
OR
Smuggler - guns, witty dialogue, free reign over choices, but a long distance fighter.
