The World's End

Anyone who knows me well knows that I'm a huge fan of the TV series Spaced so when a lot of the talent behind that show went on to make movies it was going to attract my attention.

First came Shaun of the Dead and I loved it, in some ways it was like looking at myself when I was 10 years younger than I was at the time although I had few undead problems than the characters in the movie.

Next came Hot Fuzz and again I was presented with a movie I truly enjoyed and have rewatched many times since.

Now we come to The World's End, well I guess the dream run had to end eventually but The World's End is slow to get started but is rather amusing during the middle section but I'm afraid the end is just too far over the top and well in my opinion stupid.

I truly hope the team of Wright, Pegg and Frost get together to make another movie sometime soon and maybe recapture some of their old magic but for me The World's End was a bit of a disappointment.

So Where exactly is Rodney Dangerfield when you need him ?

I know what you're thinking and I bet it's something along the lines of "What the Hell ?"

Well as it turns out I've gone Back to School ( see what I did there ? ), about 2 o:clock last Wednesday afternoon I got a phone call asking if I was still interested in returning to study and I said that I was and with that I was asked to go and see someone by 4:00pm that day, the interview went well and I was informed that I had a place in the course if I wanted it, the only slight problem was that I would be starting the following morning.

Basically I had to jump in head first with very little notice and so far it seems to be going well, the return to any form of study hasn't been too hard to adjust to but some things like my somewhat neglected blog have been neglected a little more than I would liked this past week or so.

I've seen some cool movies and done some other stuff recently and sometime soon I hope to tell you about it.

Pacific Rim

Last Sunday I saw Pacific Rim, it was a movie that I thought looked rather pretty based on the trailers I had seen for it but I was honestly unsure if I'd enjoy it or not.

Well a couple of friends and I decided we'd go check it out and I think it's safe to say all three of us really enjoyed the movie.

One person I know has dismissed the movie ( he hasn't actually seen it ) as Transformers meets Godzilla however I'd describe it as Transformers meets Godzilla only it's fun.

Seriously it's giant monsters duking it out with giant robots, what more could you want ?

The upcoming new version of Godzilla has a lot to live up to now.

A WTF ? Moment.

For anyone reading this who didn't know I am divorcing my wife, I won't go into exactly what she did but it's a relationship that can't be salvaged and lord knows I tried.

Today I received a letter from a solicitor demanding I do something I have been doing for well over 6 months and can easily prove I have been doing ( and think it's reasonable to expect I do so ), demanded plans and specification for a gate I'm not having constructed at our family home, you read that correctly, plans for something I'm not doing, on top of that she only wants to communicate via lawyers.

Apparently I am a particularly unreasonable person but in this case I think I'll do everything the solicitor asks, I shall met the responsibilities that I believe it's reasonable I should meet, I shall supply the non-existant plans for the non-existant gate and I will refrain from talking to her or contacting her other than through our respective lawyers.

This whole situation would be funny if it wasn't so stupid and the bit I really don't understand it the fact she paid someone to do this, a genuine WTF ? moment.

The Breakfast Club

Recently I had a discussion with a friend about John Hughes' films, basically I said I wasn't really a fan which was apparently shocking, especially for someone of my age.
Fast forward a couple of weeks and I see The Breakfast Club cheap on Blu-ray so I grabbed a copy and I watched it this morning and I'm still not a fan, didn't hate it but I will never need to see that movie again.

The one thing I did and do really like about The Breakfast Club is the song Don't You ( Forget About Me ), it's a song I've always liked.

For the record I do like Ferris Bueller's Day Off but as far as the rest of Mr Hughes' movies go I think I'll pass.

Man of Steel

Last night I finally found the time to see Man of Steel, I had been really looking forward to seeing this movie but for one reason or another I just wasn't able to see it as quickly as I would have liked.

I should probably say upfront up until last night I though Superman: The Movie was the best superhero movie ever made and any actor who is stepping into the role played by Christopher Reeve is a brave man indeed, well my opinion hasn't change and I still feel that Superman: The Movie is the best superhero movie ever made.

That being said I did enjoy Man of Steel but I also feel it has some real issues, I really liked the new take on Krypton in this movie and I liked the new take on the character of Superman himself but frankly I think they should have left a showdown with General Zod and the renegade Kryptionians until a sequel, in this film they pretty much trashed a large part of Metropolis, how do you top that ?

Added to that they kill off General Zod at the end of the film, why do so many superhero movies kill off their villains ?, I'm perfectly ok with the way they killed off Zod and the reasoning behind it I guess but I really do think it should have happened in a later film, all I can say is that Luthor, Brainiac or whoever the big bad in the next film is had better be impressive.

Another thing that did slightly annoy me was the powers thing, according to the movie the renegade Kryptonians were wearing environmental suits to protect them from Earth's different environment, as soon as those suits were damaged or compromised in any way the wearer instantly had superpowers to rival Superman's and yet the movie seemed to suggest they slowly built up to that level over time for Superman, unless I missed something that seemed to be a fairly glaring mistake.

I liked Man of Steel, I really did but it felt a little bloated at times and some things seemed to need a better explanation, one of the people I saw it with summed it up best I think when she said she's seen it and enjoyed it for what it was but doesn't need to see it again and that's pretty much how I feel as well, of course me being the type of person I am I'll end up owning it on Blu-ray anyway.

Marvel Cinematic Universe: Phase One - Avengers Assembled (10-Disc Limited Edition Six-Movie Collector's Set) [Blu-ray] (2012)

Over the last week I have been watching Marvel Cinematic Universe: Phase One - Avengers Assembled ( boy that's a mouthful ), I've had the boxset sitting here for a while and while I enjoyed the various movies I had seen them before so I lacked any motivation to re watch them, I was at one point planning to watch them in the lead up to my going to see Iron Man 3 but that came and went and still I hadn't made a start on the movies.

Well now it's over and done with and I've come to a couple of interesting conclusions:

Firstly: The Incredible Hulk is a much better movie than it's generally given credit for and Edward Norton is a much better Bruce Banner than Mark Ruffalo was when the role was recast for The Avengers.

Secondly: Iron Man 2 isn't the total travesty I though I remembered it being.

Thirdly: The Avengers is probably the weakest film in the series (m in my opinion ), I'm not saying it's bad, I rather like parts of it but there are parts of this movie I just don't enjoy at all.

I am looking forward to the rest of the Phase 2 movies, I can't say I loved Iron Man 3 but I can appreciate that they tried to do some thing different and to me that's a good sign that Marvel are prepared to take some risks with their movies.