War Of The Worlds

I do like me a bit of ol' disaster porn. Watching stuff get blown up never gets old. Well, it didn't until 2012. That's not prophesying there, but I imagine by 2012 we'll be drowning in films about blowing stuff up. Right, so, War Of The Worlds. The geekiest thing I noticed about this movie was that the tripods (similar to the one on your left there) were the same as the ones in Half-Life 2 in both design and the crazy noise they made. Not sure which came first mind, but at least we're safe in the knowledge that they ripped off H.G Well's design. Although in fairness one of them was adapting his book for a movie. Also it's worth remembering that Tom Cruise is tiny. Like 3ft or something. I don't know the specifics, but it makes every scene funnier imagining that the crew had to have him stand on a box to do dialogue with characters. Or have the other actor crouch slightly. Quite funny at the end as well where we he has to hug his son so he makes sure that he gets his on top in the hug leaving his son leaning down into him like a model hugging a midget. Beautiful stuff. Dakota Fanning is also spot on with her portrayal of a scared child. Which means that her incessant screaming is almost as irritating as her lines. I just hate her. I don't know why. It's probably because of Push. God, that was a terrible movie. I'm getting depressed just remembering it. I think that's as good a place to stop as any. Oh and the film is average. At best. Not even Morgan Freeman's voiceover can add too many points.

Wanted

I quite enjoyed Nightwatch, over the top, ridiculous yet very entertaining. So the idea of this film seemed quite appealing to me. It even has Morgan Freeman in it. Doing pretty much exactly what he did in Lucky Number Slevin. Although that's no bad thing as that was also a great movie. Anyway, McAvoy is in it. His accent is pretty terrible. When he's shouting/whining he sounds kind of Scottish to me. I may just be adding that myself though, just to fuel my reasons for not liking him. Because I don't really. Not sure why, he just annoys me. When his mouth opens, my heart sinks. He's not really made a decent movie ever. This doesn't count. I also haven't seen The Last King Of Scotland. And according to his wiki that's pretty much half of his fims. The music is also terrible. Not sure if that's deliberate though. I like to think it is. Because if you watch the movie thinking "it's only doing this because it couldn't happen" it becomes quite enjoyable. It literally goes out of it's way to push the limits of acceptable ridiculousness. Like a clown fighting a bear in a suit, it teeters on the edge of being too much to imbue in one film. I am tempted to pick up the comic it's based on as well, seems alright. Although wikipedia did tell me the lead character is "drawn to look like Eminem". Which coincidently is what the Russian rat carrying guy looks like, just a more middle aged version. It is good fun, Jolie looks attractive (it's hit and miss with her), there's alot of slow-motion and the world is controlled by a fucking weaving machine. Good times.

On an unrelated note, watched episode two of Spiral. Things haven't picked up much really, something about deaf people came into it. Not much progress on the main story. I'm hoping it's not going to get bogged down in a hundred billion mini tales going on at once. I realised that keeping up with the subtitles is hard enough, I'm used to occasionally looking away or poking my leg or something while watching things but during this I realise I've missed half a scene and have no idea what's happened because I can't understand French. Still, I'll try and get my hands on episode three, as it's the only TV show I have on the go untill Dexter, 30 Rock and South Park return. That and Peep Show actually, first episode held back on the cringe but still tickles the insides. Six seasons and it's still worth watching, that's definitely a rare thing.