A Present Doesn't Get Awesomer Than This.

Today my friend Kerrie gave me my birthday present. She had to have it shipped from America, so it took a bit longer. But it was SO WORTH THE WAIT OMGOSH. The reason I'm posting it on here is because its film related and its from one of my all time favourite films of ALL TIME (no worries I'll do a list of all those which fit the bill). But it's like a prized possession to me now and I love it.

HUG MEH IM A MUGGLE!!!

New Trailers Are Out & About

(Btw I don't know if this is of any interest to you, but I actually wrote this in Notes, on my iPod, on a 2 1/2 hour train journey from Bournemouth Uni; so I had endless amount of time lol).

It feels like yonks since I've written something on my blog that would be of any interest to anybody that happens to stumble upon it. I apologise I've just been soooo busy with A2 work, charity appeals in school etcetera etcetera. I'll definitely aim to do a couple during the Christmas period though; something has to be done on cheesy Christmas films at least. Ooo and on the Snowman and the Snowdog :O. It better live up to my expectations.

But I've just come to talk (more like scream of excitement) about some of the new trailers that have been released for films coming out in 2013. Mattteeeee, talk about getting the audience hypeddddddddd and excited. 

I'll begin with Iron Man 3. Yes metal man is back. Now the trailer oddly reminds me of The Dark Knight Rises trailer but I'm not actually sure why. Maybe it's because of the exploding planes and exploding buildings and slow motion clips that are in it. Or even the villain has a voice very similar, not the same, but VERRR similar to that of Bane. Or maybe I'm just still obsessed with TDKR I dunno. But h-anyways the trailer is really good. And explosive. There's so many enigma codes embedded in it that it makes it seem so much more 'darker'. It also being a 'sort- off follow up' from the Avengers just makes it seem that much better, which is always fun.

The trailer doesn't give THAT much away. I've read up on some stuff that would already be known if you read the comics, but I won't include it in this, as it may be spoilers for some people. What I gather from this, is that Tony seems to be at war with himself. He seems to be more obsessed than ever with the suits and maybe the fact is that he feels more comfortable when they are close by him (look at the scene when all the parts are by his bed). There seems to be a growth in the robots, some even looking 'bad' (sorry that was a poor choice of an adjective), and some even looking to operate by themselves without the need of someone to be in them (How?, how? how? Hmmm). The baddie in this is called the Mandarin and I therefore go no further. I don't wanna spoil it :). 

(I chuckle at the fact that this gets released in the UK (April 26th) before America (May 3rd). Ha. TDRK all over again).

Here's the trailer here if you haven't yet seen it:

Next up is Man of Steel. When I saw the FIRST trailer I nearly wet myself. I was in the cinema with my fab media teacher (she's awesome she loves films like me) on the very first day that Dark Knight Rises came out (coz you know we are die hard film fans) and the last trailer they showed before the film started was Man of Steel. But at this point I didn't know it was Superman. I recall my teacher going "Ooo what's this?", and you know we watched and watched until the end where the symbol (embed symbol) shows up. I was like :O. My teacher was like :OO. I was even more excited because Chrisptoher Nolan is the producer of it (If you didn't know already Christopher Nolan is in my top five directors/ producers of all time) and that just got me soooo geared up. The trailer is a good one; again with endless questions to be answered. 

 First of, I'm loving the soundtrack; very soothing yet with that 'mysterious' feel to it. I realised that it's the same one that they use in LODR (Lord Of The Rings). Anyway, you see 'Superman' by himself, left to his own devices, looking to be in search of finding out who he is as an individual. Then we later see him as a young boy making a cape for himself and we watch it blow in the wind a 'superhero' convention that we all know so well.
Then as you do, the trailer ends on a sort of 'Oh maa gaddd' moment where we see Superman in full acceleration to the sky.
This isn't the only teaser trailer that was released though; there was two, both the same, but narrated by different people. One by Russell Crowe who plays biological father Jor- El and Kevin Costner  who plays Jonathan Kent, Superman's adoptive father.

Here's the Russell Crowe version if you haven't already seen it:

To be perfectly honest, those are the two main ones I wanted to talk about. Because in 2013 when they come out, I'll be in the first batch of people eagerly sitting in the comfy cinema seats, with popcorn down my top and without any distractions from fellow companions that decide to tag along because I need to FOCUS (cue me trying to control the force and dodge bullets) on all the action that occurs. There's no room for chit chat lol. I have high expectations for Man of Steel as the previous Superman films have been, you know, ehhh.

Hope you enjoy what you read, much more to come!

Frankenstein + Something Weenie = Frankenweenie.

Today I went on an adventure. Into the crazyfied mind of Tim Burton, which I always love doing, because his work is amazing. Alice and Wonderland, Charlie and the Choco Factory, Nightmare Before Xmas, Edward Scissorhands etc etc.

Nothing that he does fails to interest me. He's crazy but he has his own style which I really like. 

But enough of that, the reason I'm writing about him is because I went to a Frankenweenie Exhibition at the BFI on London's Southbank to see how the film was made, story line of the film and I also got to see the actual puppets they used in the film. From what I learned, it took about two years to complete, since it's a stop motion animation it's bound to take donkey years to finish. I saw each of the characters puppets, demonstrations in how they moved and stuff like that. What amazed me was the scale of everything. They were quite big, but still quite small, Some of the props looked soooooo authentic it was unbelievable and the time it must have took to get little minute details must have been on another level.

We also had a talk with one of the animators, Mark Waring, who worked on Corpse Bride and Fantastic Mr Fox, who told us how he got to where he is, going through the process of animating the film etc etc. It would have been so beneficial for anyone who wanted to go into animation/ stop motion in the future. It just interesting to listen to. But anyway, I'll put some pictures below of some stuff I saw.

(Lol, me and my friend attempting a Weird Girl impression).

Got me some freebies as well. 

I got a Sparky mask, and a keepsake photograph of me and two other friends peering through a classroom window. Ooo, and we also grabbed a few free 3D glasses. Bargain hunting IS the way forward.

All, in all, it was a really good experience and I'm really glad I went. I'm kinda gutted that I didn't go to a lot of the other stuff during film week, as this was the last day the BFI had anything on. But next year I'm on it.

I might write a review on this as well, I wanna watch it in the half term now :D.

Edgar: "The dog is alivvveeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee".

Half Nelson

Since I am a proud member of my Film Club in my oh so amazing media techno college, every friday we watch films, think about them and widen our outside knowledge of the world ultimately.

Last week we watch a film called Half Nelson, which starred Ryan Gosling, Anthony Mackie and Shareeka Epps. I must say, I really enjoyed it. I was a bit apprehensive at first, but it was a good watch and Ryan Gosling played the part of a drug addict teacher very well.

Gosling plays the part of a young teacher who struggles himself with his own life. He's constantly dealing with a drug addiction problem, but he still manages to find some sort of energy to inspire them in anyway he can; often rejecting the actual school curriculum for his own approach to how they should be taught.

As Dan deals with his own problems, he is caught smoking crack in the girls toilets by Drey, played by Shareeka Epps, a shy girl he teaches and someone who he coaches on the girls basketball team. Drey's own life problems become evident later on in the story; he parents don't seem to be in a relationship, her mum works late hours and her brother is in prison. As a result of this a man named Frank, played by Anthony Mackie, seems to be the only one that shows that 'family- orientated' relationship with her.

The film ultimately deals with exploring the different kinds of loneliness that people seem to go through in their life. Whether as extreme as being a drug addict teacher, or being a somewhat neglected child left to your own devices, both issues are brought together with a solution attempted to be made. Drey tries to help Dan overcome his drug addiction, whereas Dan tries to help Drey from hanging around the wrong crowd that could eventually get her into serious trouble.

These two characters both play their part extremely well; they both have an unspoken bond which has a great impact in the film. the camera angles that are used also are very clever. In some ways you could say that how it's filmed is fairly unconventional, but the wide range of extreme close ups focusing on the emotions and 'jitteriness' of the camera, make it much more realistic.

Half nelson is a very honest film; it doesn't hold back on the problems that some people can go through. I would strongly recommend you to watch this, as it is something refreshing and different to watch allowing you to be more open about things. 

A nice quote I found that someone wrote about this film was that:
"These two people are better able to save each other, than to save themselves". I thought that summed up the film in a nice way.

Rating:
* * * * *

Allow Me To Re-Introduce Myself....

See what i did there with the Jay Z lyrics? Eh? Eh? (Wink wink nudge nudge).

I thought I should actually write a little about myself before I actually start fully posting anything. But I hate writing/ speaking about myself in any shape or form so I'm gonna keep this short and sweet.

Currently I am in my last year of 6th form college, and hopefully plan to go to my desired uni being Bournemouth. I wanna do Multimedia Journalism there, and their course looks amazing; I really do hope I get in. Fingers crossed.

But yeah, I wanna go into the whole journalism end of things, especially film journalism because I LOVE writing about films and characters, actors and actresses etc. I just enjoy airing my opinion, even if people don't see it, it's nice to just get it down somewhere.

So, this blog is just going to be me jib jabbing on about films that I have watched/ are watching, films that i watch in my film club in college, maybe stuff I hear in the film world about films I might comment on it and stuff, so yes please feel free to have a read, it would be much appreciated so yeah enjoy!!!

Happy reading!!! :D

Avengers 1.0

I decided to do an in depth analysis of some of the characters in the film (because I'm a neek like that, don't judge me). I have valid reasons for doing so:

Wunnn: I love the film far too much.

Two: I was gonna do a review on the Dark Knight Rises, but I'm gonna wait for that to come out on DVD to refresh my memory. That film is still a blur for me, it was too amazing.

Three: This in depth analysis will actually help me with my media studies in college, hopefully. 

All the characters are stars in their own right, and they should get all the credit they deserve for this film. Seriously, too fab.

Who's up first?

1.  *Megaphone voice* Captain America.

Love this guy. He's got such a sweet, innocent face. And his smile just makes ya heart melt. I have to admit, sometimes I couldn't take him seriously because of his outfit. To be honest, it wasn't just the outfit, it was the HELMET. It's not even a helmet. It's more like a piece of fabric. It just looks so amateur it makes me laugh. There was a scene in the film where Barton, Black Widow and him are walking in uber slow motion, and he just looks like a child in an outfit he was made to wear. Barton is in his leather suit, muscley arms fully exposed, Widow in her skin tight leather, and Captain America in his spandex. Bless. Don't get me wrong I like his suit, I just don't like the helmet/ fabric/ du-rag thing.

Anyway throughout the film he plays the voice of reason; the guy always to stop the arguments and fights, the one giving out orders etc. In essence he is a Captain after all, and he plays this role significantly well. He fits the bill: big muscles, toned physique, tin tin hair and the deep tone of seriousness to his voice.

Favourite Lines: "What's the matter, scared of a little lightning?" 

2. Thor aka Sir Lightning Bolt.

He is a hottie isn't he? My love for Thor has continued from the Thor film which I loved. Not as much as the Avengers, but I loved it. His golden hair that sits comfortably on his broad shoulders, that Australian accent (wehey mate), and THOSE arms. *Drools*. No one else could've played him the way he does. For me in the film he plays the role of the alpha male, but doesn't flaunt the fact that he is somewhat above everyone else. He's a god for goodness sake. You can't get much higher than that. He is a loveable character, but you wouldn't want to get on the wrong side of him, because I guarantee that him and his trust worthy friend of a hammer, will not be very happy. Talking of hammer, he does use it very well, with lots of strength and vigour. That's somewhat expected, since he's the only one that can actually pick it up. The relationship between him and Loki, is still explored in the Avengers, and it's nice to see that he does still care about him regarding the circumstances.

Favourite Lines: "He's adopted".

3. Iron Man aka Stark aka Metal Man (seriously people underrate the moment when Thor called Stark metal man).

"Genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist". Yeah you heard right. I love how Stark has stayed the same since the previous Iron Man films to the Avengers. His character hasn't changed. He's still the arrogant, annoying, boastful money maker that a lot of people hate. But we all LOVE him because of that. He likes to think of himself as an alpha male I think. He might not have the looks of one, but he sure does have the brains. His witty and sarcastic one liners make up his character as well as his raw emotion that he shows to remind us all that he is still human. For example when he couldn't really deal with the loss of Coulson (poor guy). I'm certainly looking forward to what he has to offer in Iron Man 3 next year too. Cannot wait.

Favourite Lines: "Shakespeare in the park".

4. Dr. Banner aka The Hulk.

For me, Banner made me love this film even more. I haven't been a fan of the previous Hulk films, but he plays this one out really well. His twitchiness as a character makes you somewhat uneasy watching, as you wanna know when he's just going to turn into a 'big green rage monster'. Witnessing Stark also trying to egg him on is really funny. Ruffalo does a good job of playing a shy, uneasy, yet scientific genius, as well as the big green intimidating monster we all know so well. One of my favourite scenes has to be the Hulk vs. Loki. I felt so sorry for the big guy when Loki called him a 'foul creature'. His facial expression afterwards was like if you took a dummy away from a baby. He genuinely looked so disheartened. But being the Hulk, he didn't take this lightly and he nearly broke Loki. So much so, he was left wincing in the floor. And yes, I meant IN the floor.

Favourite Lines: "Puny God", & "His mind is like a bag of cats, you can smell crazy on him".

5. Romanoff aka Black Widow & Barton aka Hawkeye.

These two. I thought we were gonna see a little 'something something' going on. I sensed the sexual tension. I have little to say, that Scarlet you looked fab in your leather, and the way you dealt with those Russians twas amazeballs. And Barton you have very nice arms and you shoot your arrow like no other.

Favourite Lines: Widow- "I don't see how that's a party". Hawk-"I have unfinished business with Loki". 

6. Nick Fury.

I don't have much to say on Fury, but I think without him in the film, it wouldn't have been the same. The eye patch is still an ongoing mystery; I wanna know what happened. His all black attire makes him that more mysterious and secretive, yet shows 'who's boss'. Jackson's voice by itself just makes you think of someone who should be more superior than everyone else. His conversation with 'real power' (aka Loki) confirmed this, and we saw how he doesn't seemed to be phased at all by potential threats. He may deep down, but he doesn't show it as much. He just screws up his face in that Samuel L. Jackson manner.

Favourite Lines: "Let me know if real power wants a magazine or something" & "Stupid ass idea".

7. Phil Coulson. 

I have to write something on Coulson. Can't believe Loki killed him like that. Coulson is for me like an unsung hero of the film; even though he doesn't play such a big role, his role is significant enough for him to contribute a big enough part in the film. He so sweet and calm and a big kid at heart; he wouldn't stop going on about his vintage set of Captain America trading cards. Bless him.

Favourite Lines: "Oh, that's what it does".

8. Loki aka The Wannabe God.

I could do a whole blog on this guy. He's sooooo evil, but I love him for that. Loki is a mischievous, evil, menacing, cunning person. He just craves a piece of the limelight. He's jealous of his brother, envious of what he has achieved and always seems to bring up the fact that he was 'in his shadow' and the 'left one out' to make people feel sorry for him. That menacing smile that he conjures up every now and again gives you goosebumps. He is such a wind up it's unbelievable. It's either that or his brain isn't functioning in the right way it should be. He's the master of mischief; often creating illusions to fool people. Most of the time it's on his own brother, which ended up in Thor being trapped in a cage instead of himself. That scene was quite funny I have to admit.
That stick thing he carried around as well, made his presence even worse. He would just casually stab people with it like it was normal. What sane person does that? (Bearing in mind he killed 80 people in 2 days).
His green cape and his cow horn helmet adds to the fact that he thinks he's more superior than everyone else and he knows everything there is to know about living. Tom Hiddelston plays the part of Loki really well, and I can't wait to see what else he has up his sleeve in the second Thor film.
We all love a supervillian with a British accent.

Favourite Lines: "Have you ever learned not to fall for that?" & "Can I have that drink now?"

I could've sat here for another couple of hours writing up stuff on the characters, but I hope you enjoy reading my ideas/ views on them. Here are some amusing pictures I found on my best friend that is Google. Enjoy.