a legend

I saw this for the first time last night, and it's truly amazing. One of the best pieces of video i've seen in a long time - how to tell a story in 30 seconds or less...

alice in wonderland

I am sooooooo excited about this movie I can't begin to explain! I wanna see it on IMAX HD! Tim Burton has redone Lewis Carroll's classic tale Alice in Wonderland. If you've ever read the book, it really is quite a dark story, in the same way that the original Grimm fairytales were nothing like we know them today. This being Tim Burton, with his penchant for dark, the movie is *nothing* like Disney's original adaptation, and everything we've come to expect from Burton.

The usual faces are involved too: Johnny Depp and Helen Bonham Carter, with a little bit of Anne Hathaway, Matt Lucas (Little Britain), Stephen Fry and Alan Rickman thrown in for good measure. The last two are fabulous additions I think.
Depp plays the Mad Hatter (pictured), Bonham Carter the Queen of Hearts, Fry the Cheshire Cat, Rickman the Caterpillar and Lucas both Tweedledum and Tweedledee. Pictures have been released, and of course, the trailer. Enjoy!

a guy's sherlock

Here's a movie I'm excited about: Guy Ritchie's Sherlock Holmes. Robert Downey Jr playing a cranky, yet brilliant, substance-addicted detective? I don't know *where* he's going to find the inspiration :)

The world's first-ever literary detective will be brought to the screen by a daring director, and the casting of RD Jr couldn't be better. Did I mention Jude Law would be Doctor Watson? No? Oh well, I don't like him much anyway...

live long and prosper

On Friday we went to go see the new Star Trek. Summed up? Loved it loved it loved it! It's been three days and we're still discussing the characterisation vs the special effects vs the script... And that's even before I start to sound like the trekkie I'm not and go on and on about how true it is to the original, the updating of the tech, and little gags. All in all, a movie well worth watching.

The actors are fantastic in their portrayal of not James T Kirk for example, but William Shatner as James T Kirk - they remain true not just to the characters as written on paper, but the characters as they were portrayed, interpreted and immortalised by the original actors who brought them to life.
I won't say too much, as you HAVE to go see it, except to say that I can't WAIT for the next movie (cos you know there's going to be one...) and Spock was definitely my favourite.

"9"

I was surprised last night to find out Tim Burton has a new movie - that I knew nothing about! It's set for release on 9 September 09 - 9/9/09 - and is called... wait for it... 9.


Having spent today quickly finding out all I can about it (being the Tim Burton fan that I am), 9 looks to be a very dark (like you expected anything else?) new adventure in to animation for Burton. But very dark. The story centres around a group of sentient ragdolls made of burlap who live in an almost post-apocalyptic version of Earth. Or rather the post global warming world Al Gore has been warning us of. It's colourless, bleak and deserted... almost.
A ragtag little group of ragdolls, desperately wanting to survive see a potential leader in one of their own, and look to him for their survival. His name is 9.

The story is based on a short film of the same name by Shane Acker.

The trailer looks a little something like War of the Worlds - explosions, aliens, big spindly scary legs and whispered one-liners - but all done with animation. Even the bed music sounds like a big-budget action movie rather than an artsy animation. You decide:

dark comic

I am not a fan of Jim Carrey. Ace Venturer? Dumb and Dumber? The Mask? Give me a break.

But serious Jim? Serious Jim I can dig. Jim Carrey as the comic book-styled "Fingerling" in Number 23 is really quite intriguing. While Number 23 itself doesn't go where you hoped it would, and doesn't make enough of itself, the character of Fingerling I'd love to see more of. He's brusque, cynical, and his dialogue consists mainly of cast-off one liners. Everything a comic book detective should have. I hope he find more of that sort of role, and less of the pot-bowl-haired buffoon.

it wont win an oscar but...

...I'm really looking forward to Hellboy 2: The Golden Army. It's by the same director of Pan's Labyrinth, and while I don't think the story will be anywhere near as poetic or touching, it is full of those familiar fantastical creatures. And I'm a sucker for fantastical creatures.

If you've seen Pan's Labyrinth you'll especially recognise the creature with eyes in all the wrong places. The trailer is great, and apple offers three of them at a really hi quality - a pleasure to watch.

Yay for little creatures with funny eyes that fly!