- Anyone else ever been “stiffed” on a “bonus offer”? http://mattgarrett.com/buying-the-bonus/ #
- Having to twitter “manually”, Twhirl.org won’t login to my account. Sounds like I’m not the only one having problems with twitter today tho! #
- Might actually get some work done today, it’s back to dreary wet weather, so no sunshine to distract me, time to focus and catch up. #
- good post on the importance of having “downtime” – http://tinyurl.com/5d7bfl #
Archive for May, 2008
hmm, I guess you’re probably not here to find out why I haven’t posted a movie review since Feb, so I’m not going to bore you with the life stuff that happens now and again, we all have it, better I just get back in to the purpose of this blog…
oh, and my apologies for being a movie slacker recently!
So, having got my divorce and house move (see how I still managed to sneak it in anyway..) out of the way I can start enjoying going to the movies again, espoecially as it’s now in walking distance.
My first movie since Feb was Deception, and I didn’t manage to find a review on http://bbc.co.uk/movies/ it was kind of a blind viewing, but I was feeeling fairly confidant that I’d enjoy it as it’s Hugh Jackman, Ewen McGregor and Michelle Williams, who is (imho) more than a little hot…
Which turned out to be more important than I realised, as there were a couple of points in the movie where I could have easily lost interest if it weren’t for Miss Williams.
That doesn’t mean I didn’t enjoy the movie, but I guess the title gives away what you’re expecting, so I was looking for the twists, turns and “deception”, and well, it wasn’t hard to spot or anticipate before the event.
Having said that, the ending wasn’t what I was expecting, and whilst it wasn’t a “hollywood” style ending, which I would normally consider as a good thing, the ending didn’t quite sit right, it seemed a little too contrived, almost like they decided not to do the hollywood ending, then changed their minds…
Early on in the movie there’s a scene where Hugh Jackman and Ewen McGregor are sitting in an office sharing a “herbal” smoke, and whilst it is funny, it doesn’t quite ring true somehow, it felt too “scripted” for me to “buy in” to the scene and enjoy it, and the rest of the film seemed to follow the same theme, it was almost brilliant, but never quite reached it’s potential.
I don’t regret watching it on the big screen, but I think it’s a film that is more naturally suited to the small screen, so if you missed it at the cinema, don’t worry, grab it on dvd and I think you’ll enjoy it, just don’t expect to work hard on the “deception” twists…
Tags: Movies
Source: Cinem.Com & Original Post: Matt Garrett
- sometimes it feels like my life is slightly to close to the twighlight zone. Just sent my mate (he’s a spy so no name) home with a…. #
- ooh, tempted to not do a follow up post to that last one just to keep you in suspense…
@ me if you want to know more… ;p # - @chrisknight not been to the gym in 18 months plus, but second trip out on the bike tonight and I managed to make it to the top of the hill. #
- @chrisknight being fit is not just physical, it’s partly a state of mind. what you think you are capable of, you are, and vice versa #
- just posted a comment on your blog post on twitter, good stuff! http://tinyurl.com/5qlgjh #
- oh darn, more damn sunny weather today = very little work done! went mountain biking again, with the obligatory pint or 3 afterwards… #
- just 5 more followers and I’ll have more followers than people I’m following, is that a twitter landmark? & welcome to @NeilShearing! #
- @bobtheteacher congrats Bob! not swung a golf club in anger in 8 years, my dad was impressed i lost 6 balls in a row, but not my cool… #
What can I say, this movie shows just how good it can be to take a popular old comic and turn it in to a movie.
I’ll put my hand up right now as a big comic fan, I don’t still collect (too busy blogging nowadays), but I used to collect comics big time, I still have a large collection of X-men, Spidey, 2000AD etc.
We’ve had some excellent comic to movie conversions over the last few years, the X-Men and Spiderman being good examples, but who else liked Hell Boy? I did…
So there’s two questions I wanted answered from the movie…
a. is IronMan a good conversion from the comic?
&
b. Is it a good movie that non comic fans would enjoy?
well, I’m not going to try and keep you in suspense.
a. whilst I enjoyed the original ironman comic, it wasn’t one of my favorites, but the movie changed my mind.
I enjoyed both the x-men movies and the spiderman movies, but IronMan beats them!
It’s got kick ass action, although perhaps not quite enough, and it’s got wicked humor, AND it’s even got a plot, well more than a lot of hollywood movies nowadays…
It is true to the comic, or at least true enough for my taste, and there’s so much room for sequels they’ve gotta be done, I hope!
b. I decided the best way to text out “b” was to drag a mate along who’s never been in to comics, and did he enjoy it..?
He told me tonight that he’d happily go and watch it at the cinema again, and he doesn’t like spending money to movies, let alone the same one twice, so I take that as a big vote of approval from the non “comic” aspect.
and I have to agree, if I’d never read the comic it wouldn’t matter, it’s a damn good movie.
Robert Downey Jnr plays Tony Stark to perfection, he’s got the right kind of dry wit to pull it off, and he takes immense fun out of being a super hero, instead of the usual soul searching and angst, Tony Stark actually enjoys it, which ads a great element to the film.
It’s remenicent of the first batman movie where Batman was played by Michael Keaton, who physically was not perfect for the role, but pulled it off big time because of the mad look in his eyes and his “presence” in the character.
Rob does the same thing, but perhaps even better…
Jeff Daniels was also a surprise, I’ve not seen him do a bad guy before and he did it well, although it took me a moment or two to even recognise him.
Then of course there’s Gwyneth Paltrow, who makes Tony Stark’s PA, Pepper Potts, not just very attractive, but also smart, sexy and a believable part of the plot. I did mention that this is a “comic” conversion movie that actually has a plot didn’t I..?
The only negative I can think of to fire at this movie is that it could have had more action, there were some quieter moments, they weren’t wasted or boring, but IronMan could have kicked some more ass…
Tags: DVD's
Source: Cinem.Com & Original Post: Matt Garrett
I’ve now been living in my new place in Leckhampton, one of the nicer areas of Cheltenham, for a couple of weeks now and it’s sweet to have a life again!
There’s a dozen or more real good pubs within 5-10 minutes walk, as well as a bunch of restaurants, takeaways and off licences, there’s even a health food shop and nutrition centre for all my health “foibles”.
This is the first weekend that my kids have been to visit here and it’s so close to the town center we can actually enjoy the sunshine and walk in to town or visit the parks that are close by, and of course they like the fact that we can walk to the local Indian restaurant for a curry, which is in fact what we’re going to do as soon as I’ve finished this post…
- Another sunny day in the UK, this is getting strange! and not helping me to get any work done… #
- started using http://twhirl.org for twittering, it’s a neat little app. #
- @SorenJordansen make sure you take the beer out of the freezer before it pops the top mate… I’m sticking to Vino tonight. #
- must resist tempatation to go cycling in the sunshine again today, yesterday’s ride became a beer fest… #
- @Veronica me too, it’s easier to do a quick tweet than to take the time to write a full blog post, need to find balance. #
- @mikeliebner it’s kinda ironic that a lot of the replies on Neil’s post are from twitterers.. #
- @SorenJordansen your own JV partners list, now there’s a novel idea mate, wonder where you got the idea from…
count me in. #
- Neil Shearing’s not a fan of Twitter, yet – http://tinyurl.com/5dbmp4 #
- it’s no good, birds are singing, sun is shining, pub is open, must go for a cycle ride, might "deserve" a beer or twe afterwards. #
- wow! not twittered since friday, must have been a good weekend! all this sunshine not helping with my "work ethic", glad I’m the boss… #
- My daughter’s blog has gone from 40 to 1450 visits per day! seems there’s another "Gemma Garrett" who happens to be "Miss Great Britain"… #
- AWeber still running slow, took well over an hour for my last broadcast to get through the "Queue"… #
- @marlonsand on promotemarlon.com there’s a typo for the evergreen sales page = marlO?Sanders.com, where’s the "n" run off too..? #
