District 9, Being Human and Russia!

So as I sit tapping my fingers in waiting for my next Swapgame (please be Assassin's Creed 2, please be Assassin's Creed 2, etc) it's about time that I started catching up on those films from last year. District 9 initially sauntered into my field of vision when there were whispers of the director of it being given the reins on the mythical Halo movie. I imagine his Halo short would have gone some way to helping that story. Anyway, the film itself starts off as a kind of documentary/race allegory and slowly morphs into a full blown action movie before switching back to former. It works well for it and certainly is a breath of fresh air into the usual over-blown guff you get with the genre (Avatar). The accents can be a little difficult at times but that aside it's hard not to recommend it. Not a great movie but certainly a good one. Also I think the lead looks a bit like Murray from Flight Of The Conchords. Guess the jury is out on that one though.

This being the new year it also means new TV time. With BBC One getting Survivors, a show I've never watched but I imagine I might enjoy and BBC Three getting Being Human. I quite liked the first season of it, and it had the blind luck to wander in before vampires were all the rage. Zombies were the big thing back then. Which reminds me, I need to get hold of a copy of the third book in The Walking Dead series. Anyway, everyone's back for this new series including a new menacing guy who reminds me a bit of Christopher Lee but it isn't. Pretty sure it's someone quite well known though. Wikipedia will embarrass me in due course. It does feel like an intrinsically British equivalent to Buffy the Vampire Slayer, with big plot elements always revolving round very British things. Like pubs and tea-making. Which is lovely and adds a bit of warmth to the show. I'm going to hastily say that I'll stick with it again.

Finally I owe some praise to Russia today. Not just for their stereotypical choice of hats. Oh no. So much more. I've stumbled across the murky waters of Russian MP3 sites. Not sure where it leaves me legally but my $25 has bought me all the albums I've been holding out for quite a while. Flying Lotus, The XX, Karen O and the Kids, Madvillian, Portishead, Horrors, The Prodigy, Japandroids, Animal Collective, The Antlers, Florence + The Machine, Deadmau5 and Fuck Buttons. Still got $10 left too. I need to widen my tastes it seems. Toodles.

Avatar & Up

If I had $300 million then undoubtedly I would do something ridiculous. Probably have a statue made of me riding a dinosaur. I'd have it in the middle of my garden. Be great really. Not far from this idea is one of using the money to take ten years to make a film about a war between a load of marines from Halo and some over-sized smurfs that live in a jungle. You can pretty much summarise the plot of the film on a beer mat. Or a stamp. The dialogue is also up there with great George Lucas' as well, terrible one-liners and ham-fisted narration that is more like commentary for the blind than subtle thoughts. Anyway, now the negatives are out of the way I can say why this film is great. It's in the 2012 vein of "cinema blockbuster" and, unlike the underrated comedic highlight of 2009, actually achieves it. I only saw the film in 2D. But it was stunning. The action, the environments, just everything looked amazing. The look of the film is also pretty original, the jungle and it's inhabitants are especially something new. This is also coming from someone who's endured several space marine FPS' so I've seen a fair few aliens in my time. Avatar is a film that has to be seen at the big screen to be believed. It's easy to say it's crap before you've seen it, but you'll be surprised how quickly the acutely dull Sam Worthington and co suck you in to their world.

I don't know where we'd be without Pixar, they are the only company that can make consistently amazing films (Nobody mention Cars). Up is no different, although it's premise is a bit zanier. The film begins with what can only be described as a heart-warming walk through a man's life. I challenge someone not to watch this segment of the film and not be moved at all by it. This has always been Pixar's talent, establishing great characters that you instantly like. Then, through unfortunate incidence, ends up floating his house away on millions of balloons. Something everyone saw coming as it was all over the posters. The rest of the film is classic Pixar fair, with mix laugh out loud moments and some genuine heart-warming times. But all of this goes without saying. Pixar films are always brilliant and this no different. They pretty much have the formula to perfect animation nailed.