I know there’s not much going on here at the moment. And I actually don’t really have time to blog now, either.
Just wanted to say: I’m good. I’m busy – not only work, mostly with friends, which is awesome. Also, it’s summer and even pale old me enjoys the sunshine and not sitting in front of the computer from time to time.
Normal bloggage will resume soon. Probably.
In the meantime, just so you know: Predators is pretty bad. But Eclipse is worse. So much worse.
Kick-Ass is the first book in a comic series by Mark Millar and John Romita Jr. [I’ve reviewed the movie adaptation here.]
Plot:
Dave Lizewski is a huge comic book fan. And one day, he decides to become a superhero himself. Unfortunately, he’s also only a 16-year-old teenager, so things don’t really work out the way he had planned – he gets beaten more than he should probably survive. And then he gets involved with Big Daddy and Hit Girl, two vigilantes par excellence. Which only makes matters worse.
Kick-Ass is an interesting piece of work. I like Mark Millars writing, though I’m not so much a fan of John Romita Jr.’s art. But it’s a pretty good graphic novel. And it was interesting to read the comic after having seen the film.
I’ve done memes like this twice before, here and here. But the questions to this one are new and anyway, it’s fun!
Via liberrydwarf.
1. Open your library (iTunes, Winamp, Media Player, iPod, etc)
2. Put it on shuffle
3. Press play
4. For every question, type the song that’s playing
5. When you go to a new question, press the next button
6. Don’t lie and try to pretend you’re cool!
The Losers is the adaptation of the comic by Andy Diggle and Jock. It was directed by Sylvain White and stars Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Zoe Saldana, Chris Evans, Idris Elba, Columbus Short, Óscar Jaenada and Jason Patric.
Plot:
Led by Clay (Jeffrey Dean Morgan), the Losers are a team of highly trained military men working for the US. When a mission of theirs in Bolivia goes haywire and someone called Max (Jason Patric) starts giving them orders, the Losers start to disobey and finally have to fake their own death. A short while later, they meet the mysterious Aisha (Zoe Saldana) who promises that she can bring them back to the US and will even help them find Max – if they kill him for her.
The Losers is not an artful masterpiece. But it’s a movie filled with wisecracking characters who deliver a new one-liner every two minutes (alternating them with the explosions). It’s mostly well-acted and it’s quite frankly pure fun.
The Final Empire is the first novel in the Mistborn trilogy by Brandon Sanderson.
Plot:
For a thousand years, the Lord Ruler has ruled the world. He’s not only a king, he’s a god. While the nobility mostly thrives under him, the largest part of the people are skaa, who are, essentially, slaves.
Now, one of the skaa, a famous thief and Mistborn (meaning he possesses the ability to burn metal in his body and manipulate his surroundings with it), named Kelsier starts to plan for the ultimate destruction of the Final Empire and the Lord Ruler. For that he pulls together his old thieving crew, with the new addition of Vin, a young street urchin, who is a Mistborn as well – but doesn’t even know it.
The Final Empire has an intriguing premise and Brandon Sanderson does it full justice. Though his writing style is not the cleanest, the world he’s created and especially the characters in this world are engaging and will hook you quickly.
[Loads of cover love goes to Gollancz, again.]
[deadra mused about the reasons why. I just think it’s nice.]
De l’autre côté du lit [literally: On the other side of the bed] is an adaptation of Alix Girod de l’Ain’s novel, directed by Pascale Pouzadoux, starring Sophie Marceau, Dany Boon and Antoine Duléry.
Plot:
Ariane (Sophie Marceau) and Hugo (Dany Boon) are married, but their relationship is about to break – they both work their asses off and are trapped in their everyday lives. So, Ariane suggests a change: She will take Hugo’s place and Hugo will take her place. At first, Hugo is hesitant to do this change, but in the end he agrees to save their marriage. So, Ariane takes over Hugo’s company and Hugo gets the kids, Ariane’s job and the renovation of their home.
The idea behind De l’autre côté du lit is cute and interesting but an idea can only take you so far. Unfortunately, nobody seemed to have looked further than the idea and so the movie lacks a bit in the execution.
Shrek Forever After is the fourth and final Shrek film and the first one to be directed by Mike Mitchell. It stars the voices of Mike Myers, Cameron Diaz, Eddie Murphy, Antonio Banderas, Walt Dohrn, Jon Hamm, Jane Lynch, Julie Andrews and John Cleese.
Plot:
Shrek (Mike Myers) should be happy – he has everything he ever wanted. He married the love of his life, Fiona (Cameron Diaz), he has three kids. His best friend Donkey (Eddie Murphy) comes over regularly. But the routine of it all, and the tourists on Star Tours, wear Shrek down. Out of desperation he makes a deal with Rumpelstiltskin (Walt Dohrn) – Shrek gets one day as a regular, frightening oger, and Rumpel gets one day from his childhood. But Rumpel has ulterior motives, of course, and takes the day Shrek was born – which means that he was never born at all. Now Shrek has only 24 hours to find Fiona, make her fall in love with him and share true love’s kiss to break the deal.
There is nothing technically wrong with Shrek Forever After. But something crucial seems to be lacking from the film. And in the end, it leaves you feeling a little unsatisfied.
Crazy Heart is the adaptation of Thomas Cobb’s book, directed by Scott Cooper and starring Jeff Bridges, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Colin Farrell and Robert Duvall.
Plot:
Bad Blake (Jeff Bridges) once was a very successful musician, but since then, he’s become an alcoholic first and a musician second. By chance he meets Jean (Maggie Gyllenhaal), a young music journalist, and he falls in love with her. Jean is cautious because of his alcoholism, but lets him into her life – and the life of her son. At the same time, Bad gets the chance to get back on stage with his former pupil, Tommy Sweet (Colin Farrell). Life seems to go up for Bad, but things have to get worse, before they can get better.
Crazy Heart is an excellent film in some parts, in others, not so much. The performances were great but I felt like the script focussed on the wrong things. The music was wonderful, but the climactic final song was, strangely enough, not the best song.
Ok, Where Do I Start With That? M.
Johnny Depp Will Be Big Screen Doctor Who. Or won’t he? Definitely won’t.
Eclipse: the Line, and the Movie:
To be fair, this movie seems to indicate that people only ever pay attention to Jacob when he’s shirtless, so maybe this scene is just the cinema equivalent of that intelligence test where you put a chew toy under a blanket and see how long it takes your dog to realize what happened.
Andrew Garfield cast as Peter Parker.
Big Bang Big Boom – Wall-Painted Animation.
Attention, perversly assertive women! You are abnormal!
It’s Bat Porn! And: The Real Secret Origin of the Caped Crusader.
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