On December 2:

1779 Madeleine Sophie Barat, French saint, was born.

1805 Henry Wells, Founder of American Express, was born.

1862 USS Cairo sank on the Yazoo River, becoming the first armored ship to be sunk by an electrically detonated mine.

1863  Edvard Munch, Norwegian painter, was born.

Self Portrait with Skeleton Arm, 1895

1870  Joseph H. Rainey of South Carolina became the first black U.S. congressman.

1893 Edward G. Robinson, American actor, was born.

1900 Sammy Davis, Sr., American dancer, was born.

1901 Guglielmo Marconi received the first transatlantic radio signal at Signal Hill in St John’s, Newfoundland.

1911 Delhi replaced Calcutta as the capital of India.

1915  Frank Sinatra, American singer and actor, was born.

1917 The six o’clock swill began.

 1927  Robert Noyce, American inventor of the microship, was born.

1929 John Osborne, English dramatist, was born.

 1935  Lebensborn Project, a Nazi reproduction programme, was founded by Heinrich Himmler.

1938  Connie Francis, American singer, was born.

1940 – Dionne Warwick, American singer, was born.

1941  Adolf Hitler announced the extermination of the Jews at a meeting in the Reich Chancellery.

1948 Batang Kali Massacre – 14 members of the Scots Guards stationed in Malaysia allegedly massacred 24 unarmed civilians and set fire to the village.

1949 – Bill Nighy, English actor, was born.

1950  Paula Ackerman, the first woman appointed to perform rabbinical functions in the United States, led the congregation in her first services.

1963 Kenya gained its independence from the United Kingdom.

1964 Prime Minister Jomo Kenyatta became the first President of the Republic of Kenya.

1965 Will Carling, English rugby union footballer, was born.

1979  Rhodesia changed its name to Zimbabwe.

1982 Women’s peace protest at Greenham Common – 30,000 women held hands and formed a human chain around the 14.5 kilometres (9.0 mi) perimeter fence.

1988 The Clapham Junction rail crash killed thirty-five and injures hundreds after two collisions of three commuter trains.

1991  Russian Federation gained independence from the USSR.

2006 Peugeot produces its last car at the Ryton Plant signalling the end of mass car production in Coventry, formerly a major centre of the British motor industry.

Sourced from NZ HIstory Online & Wikipedia.

After you come back from watching Twilight: A New Moon, you brain – which due to the mind numbingly dull repetition of watching a group of homoerotic teenage vampires, brood and worry about whether their latest hair cut is “cool”,  has turned into a porridge so thick and tastelless even prisoners in a Vietnamese slave labour camp, would turn their nose up at it – might start to question what film would destroy my thin shroud of happiness and lead me to attempt suicide? I have the answer.  The Glorious 39.  Stephen Poliakoff has actually managed to make a  film which made me want to sandpaper all the feature of my face, so that I lost the ability to see or hear what felt like the longest 2 hours and 10 minutes of my life.  Even passing gallstones seemed more tempting than watching another minute of the horror show that I witnessed.  Franky nothing is more frightening than realising 10 minutes in that you’ve got another two hours of this turgid rubbish to get through.  Twilight should take lessons in order to create something comparably scary.

The film is set in 1939.  War is about to break out.  The aristocracy believe that they can negotiate a deal to get Britain out of the war.  Unbeknownst to Anne (Ramola Garai) – the adoptive daughter of the high ranking Keyes family – her relatives are part of this plan and are knocking off anyone who stands in the way of their plot.  After one of her friends dies mysteriously, she stubbles across a recording that implicates the government and eventually her family in his murder.  What makes the plot even more “exciting” is that strange things start happening around her and more people die.  The whole plot is framed around the present day meeting between the grandson of Anne asking the last remaining relatives of the Keyes family about what happened to his Grandmther.

Almost everything is hateable in this film.  The direction is probably the worst bit.  I have seen genital crabs with more talent behind the camera than Poliakoff.  He has obviously been taking lessons in direction from a blind gereatric man with ADHD.  Every single scene has a camera zoom that lasts for an eternity on someone or something.  In particular the final shot on an elderly Anne.  Poliakoff has the longest possible zoom on to her wrinkled face followed by a dramatic pause which serves as an opportuniy to fade into Anne as she is in 1939.  It is horrible.  Leprosy colonies are more pleasant sights than the end of the film. 

What is even more infuriating is that he has managed to turn a cast of vaguely decent cast into a group more wooden than the amazon rain forest.  It is not a slight on them that they’re generally awful (apart from Bill Nighy). By trying to replicate the style of language used in films of the era, he has lost any semblence of plausabiliy and more importantly has failed to create the illusion of 1939. 

Bill Nighy deserves to have his equity taken away and then frog marched to a Sushi Bar in London where he can eat a piece of Sushi laced with radioactive thallium.  He was awful.  It was obvious from two minutes in what was really going on with his character.  He was so bad he made me want to scoop my eyes out with a rusty spoon.  I used to like him as an actor.  Now, I wouldn’t swerve to avoid him if he was crossing the road in front of me. Bad, Bad, Bad.

One tiny ray of sunshine was Ramola Garai.  She was quite good and gave a suitably convincing performance.  The film was clearly a vehicle for her to launch her career.  But, in all fairness she grabbed the opportunity with both hands.  Without her the film would have deserved being burnt in a return to the good old days when anything rubbish was vilified and led to national outrage. 

Overall this is poor. I love British cinema.  However, if this is the best it can curretly do I think the UK Film Council might as well give up.  It is so dire that I wouldn’t infict it on my worst enemy.

1/10 – Nicht Gut

My last posting made an opportunist reference to the cinematic flavor du jour, New Moon, the latest in the made-for-sequels Twilight series. I use the word opportunistic because I am fully aware that I am shamelessly exploiting the current pop culture zeitgeist to snag (or is that snare) hapless web surfers and drag them to this site.

The current cultural vogue for sparring between vampires and werewolves is, for me, much better covered in the movie, Underworld, with Kate Beckinsale proving that female vampires can be just as erotic as male ones, and Bill Nighy turning in a splendidly entertaining performance as Viktor, the 1500-year-old vampire elder.

Kate Beckinsale as a Vampire

So having dealt with the etymology of vampire, it seems only fair to bite into werewolf and the plural, werewolves. And we can start with the definition offered by the OED:

A person who (according to mediæval superstition) was transformed or was capable of transforming himself at times into a wolf.  (obsolete) also, an exceptionally large and ferocious wolf. (OED, Vol.XX, p.158)

The first written definition of a werewolf in the English comes from Richard Verstegan’s A restitution of decayed intelligence: in antiquities (1605) where we see;

The were-wolues are certaine sorcerers, who hauing annoynted their bodyes, with an oyntment which they make by the instinct of the deuil; and putting on a certaine inchanted girdel, do not only vnto the view of othres seems as wolues, but to their own thinking haue both the shape and nature of wolues, so long as they weare the said girdel.

The word itself is found as the Old English werewulf, which is thought by most to have been formed from the Old English wer meaning “man” and wulf meaning “wolf.” The latter is a found in many of the Germanic languages as ulfr (Old Norse); wolf (Old Frisian, Old High German); and wulf (Old Saxon).

Werewolf

In Greek, the word for wolf is λύκος, which forms the basis for the other common word for werewolfery (or werewolfism) – lycanthropy. The word for “man” in Greek is ανθρωπος or anthropos, where we also get such words as anthropology, the study of mankind. Note that anthropos refers to humans, not just the sexual gender of “man” as opposed to “woman,” and lycanthropes can be both male and female.

The original werewolf is arguably the Greek king of ancient Arcadia called Lycaon. A thoroughly wicked king, Zeus decided to test him to see if he had any redeeming qualities whatsoever and after taking the form of a man, he made his way to Lycaon’s palace. There, in a reversal of roles, Lycaon decided to put Zeus to the test to see if he would eat human flesh. While relating the story of his encounter with the Arcadian king to his fellow gods, Zeus said of Lycaon that;

“…he took
a hostage sent by the Molossians,
and after severing his windpipe, cut
his body into pieces and then put
the throbbing parts up to be boiled or broiled.” [1]

King Lycaon becomes a wolf

Yummy! Of course, Zeus refused to eat the Molossian snack and instead set about tossing thunderbolts across the land, killing all of Lycaon’s fifty sons and turning the king himself into a wolf:

“His garments now become a shaggy pelt;
his arms turn into legs, and he, to wolf
while still retaining traces of the man:
greyness the same; the same cruel visage
the same cold eyes and bestial appearance.” [2]

In a further fit of pique, Zeus followed up by causing a flood that destroyed the world, except for the virtuous couple, Deucalion and Pyrrha, who managed to build a boat and survive.

Anyhow, if you’re wanting to score points at the office party this year, while simultaneously trying to look hip, cool, and “in the moment” as regards popular culture, you might want to casual mention that in old Scottish dialect, a werewolf was something very different from the usual 500 lbs of fur, claws, and teeth with a penchant for ripping out throats. In the 1808 An etymological dictionary of the Scottish language, John Jamieson defines a warwolf as “a puny child or an ill-grown person of whatever age;  pronounced warwoof.”

And one other quirky definition relates to the an attempt by the Nazis at the end of World War II to create an underground paramilitary group that would continue the fight. The group was conceived by Heinrich Himmler, the head of the SS, who initiated Operation Werewolf (Unternehmen Werwolf) with the aim of having small groups of elite forces wreak havoc as guerrilla fighters behind enemy lines. Although nothing came of this, except a few alleged actions that have since been disputed due to lack of evidence, it’s a great story to use to impress your hosts.

Operation Werewolf

As with modern vampires, werewolves have assumed a romantic semi-heroic status, being seen more as naughty puppies who need a cuddle rather than a solid silver slug through the head.

Listen to the espisode HERE.

Last weekend New Moon opened and in the process broke a bunch of box-office records or something. Clearly teenage girls like the whole vampires vs werewolves thing. Or maybe they just like hunk vs. hunk. I’m almost tempted to check out some Jacob/Edward fic, but I think I’ll refrain.

But if Twilight is the domain of teenage girls, a certain type of young man (*cough* basement nerd *cough*) goes for another vampires vs. werewolves franchise, Underworld. This has a lot, I suspect, to do with Kate Beckinsale’s vinyl onesie.

The whole vampires vs. werewolves thing isn’t new though. Check out The Wolfman Vs. The Vampire Woman in its entirety (below). That’s some classic wolf-on-vamp action, that is. Don’t say Nerd Hurdles doesn’t give you the goods.

But as corny as that film might be, it still holds but a dim candle to the cheesefest that is Underworld. Below might be my favourite scene.

I simply love the guy who plays the werewolf scientist (Erwin Leder). “Even at the cellular level, our species seemed destined to destroy each other!” Brilliant. His performance is spectacular. Flawless, you might say.

As is the work of the always wonderful Bill Nighy, playing here Viktor, the head of the vampires. He really saves the film with his onslaught of Shatnerian technique. He’s like a Shatninja who sneaks in halfway through the film to drop mad acting science on the truly atrocious Shane Brolly (who, incidentally, might be the best thing about this film).

Underworld gave us a lot to talk about. For instance werecats (personally, I’d want to turn into a Russian Fishing Cat) and Perfect Strangers. Which are sort of combined here in this fabulous video:

CLICK HERE TO VIEW

Theatrical Release:Nov 13, 2009

Pirate Radio is the high-spirited story of how 8 DJs love affair with Rock n Roll changed the world forever. In the 1960s this group of rouge DJs, on a boat in the middle of the Northern Atlantic,… Pirate Radio is the high-spirited story of how 8 DJs love affair with Rock n Roll changed the world forever. In the 1960s this group of rouge DJs, on a boat in the middle of the Northern Atlantic, played rock records and broke the law all for the love of music. The songs they played united and defined an entire generation and drove the British government crazy. By playing Rock n Roll they were standing up against the British government who did everything in their power to shut them down. The band of rebels is lead by The Count, played by the Academy Award Winning Philip Seymour Hoffman, Quentin the boss of Radio Rock, Gavin the greatest DJ in Britian, Midnight Mark, Doctor Dave and Young Carl who comes of age amidst the chaos of sex, drugs and rock n roll. The film features an unbelievable selection of music including The Beatles, The Stones, Beach Boys, Dusty Springfield, The Who, Jimi Hendrix, Smokey Robinson, David Bowie, Otis Redding, Cat Stevens just to name a few. The film is laugh out loud funny and speaks to the rock n roll rebel in all of us

Director and writer Richard Curtis(“Notting Hill” and “Four Weddings and a Funeral”) brings to life the story of outlaw DJs who defied the British government for all that is worthy: drugs, sex and rock ‘n roll.

The government banished modern pop and rock ‘n roll from the mainland radio stations. Rock DJs took to the high seas to broadcast from ships docked in the North Sea. The film follows the fate of one pirate radio station called Radio Rock. They would play the most popular artists of the day: The Beatles, The Kinks, The Rolling Stones and The Yardbirds.

The story begins with Carl(Tom Sturridge) arriving on the Radio Rock ship because he had been expelled from his school for smoking cigarettes and marijuana. He claims his mother sent him there to try a different way of life with his Uncle Quentin(Bill Nighy). He meets a ragtag crew who DJs twenty-four hours a day from the ship, including the ship’s cook, Felicity(Katherine Parkinson), who plays a lesbian. Carl bunks with a man called Kevin, who is nicknamed Thick Kevin(Tom Brooke) because he doesn’t process information that quickly (Kevin wore an Easter bunny costume to Christmas dinner). This is a coming of age story for Carl who learns about rock ‘n roll and loses his virginity(while it was being broadcast live).

The station becomes threatened when the prudes at the BBC ban advertising on pirate radio stations become illegal. In response a legendary, sexy and feisty DJ named Gavin(Rhys Ifans) returns from the United States to draw in millions to listen to Radio Rock (It’s appropriate “Jumpin’ Jack Flash” by the Rolling Stones is used to introduce Gavin).

Eventually, the government deems it illegal for any ship to broadcast rock ‘n roll. Of course, Radio Rock defies the orders and continues to rock out. They try to make a getaway when the prime minister’s minion goes after them, but their engine blows up. The ship begins to sink into the North Sea.

The arrangement of cast members and intertwining of comedic episodes made this film very enduring. January Jones plays Elenore, a woman who pretends to love another DJ(Chris O’Dowd) so she can sleep with Gavin. And, another DJ named Midnight Mark claims his secret with the ladies is silence and one-liner “So, shall we get to it?”

The soundtrack which features major rock ‘n roll hits help the film’s appeal where it lacks fluidity.

I really enjoyed “Pirate Radio” and have seen it twice. Overall though, “Pirate Radio” has  some truthful kernels about pirate radio off the coast of Great Britain, but in reality most of it is fictional.

Le Film: Un excellent “Feel Good Movie”.

Synopsis:

L’amour est partout, imprévisible, inexplicable, insurmontable. Il frappe quand il veut et souvent, ça fait pas mal de dégâts…
Pour le nouveau Premier Ministre britannique, il va prendre la jolie forme d’une jeune collaboratrice.
Pour l’écrivain au coeur brisé parti se réfugier dans le sud de la France, il surgira d’un lac.
Il s’éloigne de cette femme qui, installée dans une vie de couple ronronnante, suspecte soudain son mari de songer à une autre.
Il se cache derrière les faux-semblants de ce meilleur ami qui aurait bien voulu être autre chose que le témoin du mariage de celle qu’il aime.
Pour ce veuf et son beau-fils, pour cette jeune femme qui adore son collègue, l’amour est l’enjeu, le but, mais également la source d’innombrables complications.
En cette veille de Noël à Londres, ces vies et ces amours vont se croiser, se frôler et se confronter…

Critique:

Une excellente comédie/comédie romantique ! Richard Curtis, scénariste entre autres, de 4 mariages et un enterrement, Coup de foudre a Notting Hill et des Bridget Jones passe derrière la camera, avec un casting 5 étoiles.

Ainsi, on retrouve Hugh Grant, abonne a ce genre de films en premier ministre et plus particulièrement en sorte Tony Blair, mais aussi Liam Neeson (Taken, Star Wars), Colin Firth (Bridget Jones, Mamma Mia et l’étrange noël de Scrooge), Emma Thompson (Je suis une légende, Harry Potter -Prof Trelawney), Alan Rickman (Severus Rogue dans Harry Potter), Chiwetel Ejiofor (2012, Les fils de l’homme, Inside Man), Bill Nighy (Walkyrie, Hot Fuzz, H2G2, Pirate des caraïbes, The constant Gardner, Underworld 2 &3), Keira Knightley (Pirates des Caraibes, King Arthur, The Duchess, Domino) pour ne citer que les plus importants. Mais aussi des apparitions de Rowan Atkinson (Mr Bean), Elisha Cuthbert (24 heures chrono), Shannon Elizabeth (American Pie) et Billy Bor Thornton (The Barber, Eagle Eye, A l’ombre de la haine).

Tout ces acteurs s’en donnent a cœur joie dans leurs rôles respectifs, et bien que comme on le voit, un grand nombre de personnages se croisent et se décroisent (et c’est la l’idée du scenario) celui-ci est construit de telle manière qu’on ne sent sent jamais perdu, confus et au final, les 2h15 de film (ce qui est plutôt rare pour une comédie/comédie romantique) passent toutes seules. La photographie, très axée sur le rouge est magnifique et parfaitement retranscrite par cet édition. Si certains pourront reprocher le trop bien de bien-être et de tout le monde il est beau, dégoulinant pour certains, on répondra que c’est bien le genre de ce film qui le veut et une fois de temps en temps, un « feel good movie » ca fait du bien, surtout de ce calibre-la !

Un excellent film, qui plaira a tout le monde dans la famille que ce soient des amis, votre copine, et même votre belle-mère ne pourront que passer un bon moment pendant 2h.

90/100

L’image: Un très beau transfert

Ce transfert en Blu-Ray apporte un plus indéniable sur les éditions parues sur d’autres supports et on découvre une image encore meilleur que celle vue en salle.

Si ce genre de film ne se prête en général pas a un top démo, force est de constater, qu’on prend une claque des le début du film si tant est qu’on ai vu les précédentes versions disponibles.

La colorimétrie est magnifique avec des couleurs éclatantes, d’autant plus que la période de noël est une excellente base de ce point de vu la ! Les contrastes sont particulièrement bien retranscrits, les couleurs de peau naturelles et aucune tache, grain trop présent, ou autres défauts ne viennent altérer notre expérience visuelle.

On ne dénote pas d’Edge Enhancement et emploi heureusement minimal de Noise Reduction.

Et si on ne perçoit pas d’effet 3D, et que le piqué n’est pas au couteau, il se dégage une belle sensation de détails dans l a plupart des cas et au final, il est plus que sympathique que de redécouvrir (visuellement) ce film !

Au final et pour les possesseurs de précédentes éditions, la qualité de l’image est telle qu’il serait dommage de passer a cote de cette édition, peut être pas un rachat obligatoire,  mais pour les fans du film et ceux qui ne l’auraient jamais vu, achat recommandé, surtout vu le prix demandé !

80/100

Le Son: Une piste DTS HD MA 5.1 pas tonitruante, mais bien sympathique !

Qui dit comédie/comédie romantique dit bande son principalement frontale. Qu’en est-il ici ?

Malgré l’emploi d’une piste DTS Master Audio 5.1 en VO, pas de miracles ! Les voix sont parfaitement bien retranscrites dans le mix, quelques petits effets d’ambiance viennent ponctuer certaines scènes, mais dans l’ensemble rien de folichon !

La scène arrière reste timide, ainsi que le caisson de basses. Certes les passages musicaux, d’ailleurs assez nombreux, profitent au mieux de cette nouvelle édition, mais a l’exception de ces passages et de quelques petits effets, l’activité reste principalement frontale et dialoguée. Pas de quoi casser trois pattes a un canard, mais une piste son qui reste fidèle à l’esprit du film.

68/100

Genre: Comédie/Comédie romantique.

Durée: 2h15

Vidéo : 1080p AVC 2:35:1

Zone: All

Doublage: VFF

Langues: Anglais DTS-HD M A 5.1 / Français DTS 5.1 / Allemand DTS 5.1/Espagnol DTS 5.1

Sous-titres: Français / Anglais / Allemand / Espagnol / Italien / Néerlandais /

A 4th UNDERWORLD Movie Is Getting The Greenlight After The Strong Performance Of 'UNDERWORLD: RISE OF THE LYCANS'

THE SHIELD was THRALL WORLD’s best television experience EVER (narrowly edging out BABYLON 5) and the writing was MINT.

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 I should bring more interest in HBO movies for a change. I always try to watch the TV shows aired by HBO, and I quite love some of them (mostly Entourage), but I never occupied myself with their movies. The Girl in the Cafe is one of them, and – after I watched it, because I was bored - I quite liked it. The first time I heard about this movie was when a German network aired a remake of it in television, and got mostly average reviews. Since then I wanted to watch the HBO original, because the story is interesting and I love those kind of movies with two characters in the center, who are in a moment of midlife crisis of some sort, and when they meet and starting to love each other (but never end as a couple, because their lifes are still too different from each other) they talk about stuff, but not their own lives. And at the end there is emotional drama and no happy end for all involved in the situation.
Bill Nighy (nominated for the Golden Globe for his role) plays Lawrence, an aging, lonely civil servant, who is on the edge of his biggest step in his career. The G8 summit in Reykjavik is coming closer, where the politicians of the world discuss about the most important topics and problems the world has. During a coffee break he meets Gina (Kelly Macdonald, she won an Emmy for her role and was nominated for the Golden Globe), an enigmatic young woman, in a cafe. Both start talking, both start lunching in restaurants and both start having certain feelings about each other. When Lawrence invites Gina to Reykjavik at short notice, she goes with him and the trouble (and love story) begins. Because Gina starts to have some interest in the topics the politicians discuss during the summit, and she has to state her point of view, even though nobody will be happy to hear her opinion.

The story is basically simple. Two characters fall for each other; mostly they are shy, mostly they don’t really know what to talk about, because they are living in the moment of their cold, formell life. With the G8 summit background The Girl in the Cafe is almost a twin movie for Lost in Translation. We have the couple in the foreign country, who doesn’t know anything about it; the couple with problems in their own lives; the couple who seems to fit together perfectly, but fate doesn’t want to bring a new life to them.
The movie is sliced in two different parts. First the introduction of the two main characters, Lawrence and Gina. We learn a lot of things about him, but actually nothing about her. Lawrence stays the shy and nervous aging man, who doesn’t know what to say or to do (especially during the scene, when he is asking Gina out for dinner, after he met her for the first time), who clearly thinks before he is saying something. But when he is with Gina, he obviously doesn’t know anything. He was lonely before, didn’t have a real life but his job. Then he meets the mysterious Gina, who suddenly lights up his fire. He wants to live again, and he secretly hopes he can live it with Gina, but for the whole time of the movie he wants to let her think that he is not thinking about this. Gina remains mysterious for one reason: She doesn’t tell anything about her. We don’t know, who she is working for; we don’t know if she has (had) a family; we don’t know why she even evolved interest in this old man. And when we learn something about her past, she still remains mysterious.
Which takes us to the biggest problem of the story: The second part of the movie contains the G8 summit and for Gina the chance to speak out, to change the world for the better. But why she is speaking out against all odds is clearly unknown (even the bit of information we learn at the end doesn’t really help to clear that up). She knows that her opinion is unwanted, but she has to tell in front of everybody during a dinner that “it’s not right”. It is nice to see a woman standing up for something and telling her opinion, but the reasons for that are just missing and makes Gina as a character not really believable.

 The actors are fabulous. Bill Nighy acts superb, even though he could have hidden his middle finger a bit (if you look for it, you will see a few scenes with his middle finger stretching out in various moments of discussions – it was kind of unintentionally funny). He is a believable character, though his background doesn’t really make it more simple to understand his life and his loneliness. But maybe it is because of this why he is so nervous all the time. Kelly Macdonald is lovely eye candy and I loved her accent in here. But her clearly missing background doesn’t make her an unreliable character, she merely stays mysterious and far from everything happy.
The pictures are mostly cold, which I couldn’t understand why. Iceland is a cold country, and the topics are more serious than cheerful, but I felt like in a rainy and dark Jerry Bruckheimer TV production for a few moments. At least it fits perfectly together with the two characters (which makes the movie even more cold, though it is a – kind of – love story).
Which brings us to the message of the movie: Poverty in Africa is always a difficult topic, especially for a movie – the writers could never handle it properly. Either they only scratch on the surface of the topic, or they go way too deep into this and ignore the actual story of the movie. If yo want to address poverty in Africa, make a documentary. But nevertheless the producers managed a good balance between love story in the first half and politics in the second half, though the real message lost its way at the end of the movie.

All in all: Great movie; for a cold and cloudy, rainy day in autumn perfectly suited. When you liked Lost in Translation, you will definitely like this one. When you are alone in your life, you can identify with the characters without problems. And if you like a love story, which goes deeper than just the trouble of meeting for the first time and loving each other directly after that, than this could be the right movie for you.

Few characters have made as powerful or as lasting an impression on international popular culture as Astro Boy. The little robot first appeared in 1951 as a character in the celebrated artist and animator Osamu Tezuka’s legendary manga(Japanese comic book) and became an instant icon. He was subsequently featured as the star of his own television series in both black-and white and in color, eventually airing in over 40 countries. Astro Boy created the standard for a new form of animation that has become world famous as anime.

Now for the first time, Astro Boy will be brought to life on the big screen. Created with breathtaking computer animation from Imagi Studios, the film Astro Boy is a thrilling tale of a true hero. The film is set to debut in theaters on October 23, 2009.

Set in futuristic Metro City, Astro Boy is about a young robot with incredible powers created by a brilliant scientist named Dr. Tenma (Nicolas Cage). Powered by positive “blue” energy, Astro Boy (Freddie Highmore) is endowed with super strength, x-ray vision, unbelievable speed and the ability to fly. Embarking on a journey in search of acceptance, Astro Boy encounters many other colorful characters along the way. Through his adventures, he learns the joys and emotions of being human, and gains the strength to embrace his destiny. Ultimately learning his friends and family are in danger, Astro Boy marshals his awesome super powers and returns toMetro City in a valiant effort to save everything he cares about and to understand what it means to be a hero.

Starring: Nicolas Cage, Kristen Bell, Bill Nighy, Freddie Highmore, Donald Sutherland, Eugene Levy, Nathan Lane, Matt Lucas, Sterling Beaumon, Madeline Carroll, Charlize Theron
Director: David Bowers
Screenwriter: Timothy Harris, David Bowers
Studio: Summit Entertainment

MOVIE TRAILER :

]]> http://reelopinions.wordpress.com/2009/11/20/review-pirate-radio/ Fri, 20 Nov 2009 05:59:24 +0000 Antonio Antenucci http://reelopinions.wordpress.com/2009/11/20/review-pirate-radio/

Without a doubt, Pirate Radio has the best soundtrack to any movie ever made. What else can you expect from a movie about rock music from the 60’s, the best era for music ever, in my opinion.

Pirate Radio, or The Boat That Rocked as it is known outside the US, is about a ship of rogue djs and crew members in the 1960’s who play rock music on a ship because the United Kingdom’s regular airwaves refuse to play their greatest product, rock & roll. The government of course hates the crew of Radio Rock and try to eliminate their pirate broadcast. The film focuses on the lives of the crew members, especially a teenager named Carl (Tom Sturridge), who’s mother sent him to be with his godfather Quentin (Bill Nighy) aboard the ship

The wide range of wacky characters is one thing I loved of the film. I like a broad range of characters in a comedy like Pirate Radio and I think it worked very well. Philip Seymour Hoffman who plays American DJ, The Count, did a great job as usual. Bill Nighy also did a great job as, Quentin, the head of Radio Rock.

A huge criticism of the film was that it was too long. I didn’t think so, I gladly would have watched another hour of the film.  However, I greatly enjoy 60’s rock and a mess of characters. Two hours is needed for the vast number of characters in this movie, but extra time could have been spent on certain characters to develop them more.

My biggest criticism would be that the film did seem jumbled and messy at times. The film could have been tightened up a bit and more polished. Overall, I did enjoy the movie and thought it was funny.

I give Pirate Radio a 7.5. Now, excuse me while I put some Stones records on.

It’s not clear whether someone asked him or not, but Richard Curtis seems to think that he is now responsible for presenting a vision of Britain that glows with progressive energy and infectious optimism. Not for him the kitchen-sink realism of Ken Loach or Andrea Arnold, or the hard-knock macho silliness of Nick Lowe. He’s more interested in treating the stuffy image of Britain as a curtain that can be pulled back to show a country that will be compelled to dance if someone plays the right song. Thanks are due for making British history as funny as he (and co-writer Ben Elton) did with Blackadder, but his dominance over British film and TV becomes hard to swallow as we are submerged under a tide of worthy feel-good pablum such as The Vicar of Dibley, The Girl in the Cafe, the TV adaptation of Alexander McCall Smith’s cutesy The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency, etc. As with overworked screenwriter Andrew Davies, Curtis gets everywhere, and for those of us who would like British culture to contain more than slightly raunchy adaptations of classic novels or movies that make committee-driven American product feel like the works of Jean-Luc Godard, the ubiquity of these two men begins to feel a little oppressive.

The Boat That Rocked is Curtis’ most recent attempt at mythologising the British Experience, taking the fascinating story of Radio Caroline and reducing it to a bog-standard rebels vs. Empire tale riddled with dick jokes, unappealing caricatures, and a depressingly retrograde attitude to women. Actually, “jokes” is the wrong word to describe the zaniness that pervades the movie. There is never anything as concrete as a joke delivered. Instead there is a nebulous air of “humour”, an ambience that feels funny without ever doing anything amusing. It is to comedy as froth is to food. Unfortunately that froth is thinly spread over two hours of footage.

Giving a synopsis of the movie is simultaneously difficult and very easy. Difficult because a lot of small things happen that mean nothing in terms of plot, but easy as the central thread of the movie — youth vs. old age — is presented with Manichean simplicity. As with Radio Caroline, the movie’s fictional counterpart — the imaginatively named Radio Rock — broadcasts pop music from a boat moored somewhere in the North Sea to a large audience of young listeners. Unlike Radio Caroline, Curtis creates a scenario where the British government — and by association the BBC — have restricted the amount of popular music played on licensed national radio, and Radio Rock serves as a corrective to this by pumping out a non-stop barrage of The Who, The Small Faces, The Kinks, and the odd Motown/Stax classic for variety. Of course, the BBC played more popular music — and Radio Caroline less subversive music – than Curtis will admit. He operates in broad strokes, and fact will merely reduce the impact of his blunt message.

While the boat is populated with a menagerie of ill-defined “characters” (in both senses of the word) having the time of their lives, the establishment is painted as a group of out-of-touch, sour-faced nags, as grey as Steve Bell’s caricatures of John Major. It is painful to see Kenneth Branagh trying — and failing — to breathe life into the character of Sir Alastair Dormandy. Given no inner life to work with, Dormandy states quite clearly that he is trying to destroy pirate radio as he thinks it’s horrible and hates the thought of the public enjoying themselves. His unsubtle grouching is mostly aimed his equally hateful second-in-command, played by Jack Davenport. Much has been made of the name of this character — Twatt — though less note has been made of the decision to change the name of personal assistant Miss C from the original name of Miss Clit. Curtis must be more interested in displaying Twatt than acknowledging the existence of Clit, I guess.

That might explain why The Boat That Rocked is set in a retrograde world where women are sexually liberated enough that they don’t seem to mind being swapped around from one Radio Rock DJ to another as if they were soulless commodities. One excruciating scene shows DJ Dave (Nick Frost) attempting to deceive groupie Desiree (Gemma Arterton) into sleeping with virginal wallflower Carl (Tom Sturridge, looking like a rabbit caught in the headlights), the inference being that Desiree will be just fine with this because it’s all fair game and not actually non-consensual sex. Even Radio Rock proprietor Quentin (Bill Nighy) endorses this deflowering project, bringing his niece Marianne (Talulah Riley) onboard as a figurative virginal sacrifice to Carl, who is then seduced by Dave behind his back despite his earlier efforts to help the young man.

It’s the last thing you would expect from Curtis, and one suspects he is trying to pay homage to Carry On-style British sauciness, but his attempts to make this seem charming and empowering fail because the only contrast to this selfish behaviour is the colourless world populated by fun-hating automatons like Branagh and Davenport. It’s either grey cardigans or thoughtless sexual voraciousness, and you don’t want to be on the side of the squares, do you? It doesn’t matter if you treat your fellow man / woman with contempt, as long as you’re having a good time doing it. Besides, Curtis is otherwise politically correct enough to add an almost mute black kid (Ike Hamilton) and a lesbian (Katherine Parkinson) to the crew, because yay diversity! Calling the tone of the movie schizophrenic is putting it mildly.

It doesn’t help that Curtis’ cast of characters are unforgivably awful, and his impressive cast wasted. Philip Seymour Hoffman and Rhys Ifans play egotistical buffoons who care more about upstaging each other than about the feelings of their colleagues, shunning feeble Omega-males Chris O’Dowd, Rhys Darby and Tom Brooke (playing Baldrick-surrogate Thick Kevin) as if tainted. Even Nick Frost’s innate likeability is not enough to make his character endearing, which says much for Curtis’ misunderstanding of tone. If only someone had taken Curtis to one side to explain a truth established a long time ago: there is nothing more tawdry and depressing than hearing an Englishman talk about sex. Memories of Robin Askwith peering through bedroom windows at horrified housewives in their underwear flash through the mind. If Curtis is trying to evoke memories of British sex comedies from the Sixties and Seventies, the pertinent question is: why in the world would anyone in their right mind want to do that?

If we’re meant to be attracted to this group of misogynistic grotesques, the reasons are lost in the edit, which could account for the majority of the movie’s flaws. Tales are told of an original three-hour edit, pared down to 135 minutes in the UK and 90 minutes in the US (where the title has been changed to Pirate Radio). The UK release seems so unfocused that it feels like Curtis lost track of all of the footage in the editing room and accidentally deleted the wrong scenes, leaving us with lots of pointless dancing and a disparate collection of second acts that have no context. As such it is hard to criticise the movie for its sexual politics or unappealing characters because we cannot know if these failings would have been resolved had the editing been tighter. Much as I don’t want to attribute gross negligence to a man who has been telling stories with some success (financial and artistic) for a long time, it’s apparent that The Boat That Rocked is not a finished product. Was Curtis bored with this project by the time of release? Did the shooting schedule run over due to all of the larks, leaving less time for post-production?

This stew of unresolved threads cannot be called a movie. It’s a themed sketch show, intentionally leaving the odd memorable moment adrift in a content-free tone soup of tone. Daisyhellcakes (whose affection for Curtis’ work was severely dented by this movie) observed that its poor-plotting and forced air of jollity were reminiscent of Mamma Mia, and she’s onto something, and not just because criticism of the subject matter comes with the risk of being labelled a humourless prude. Other than a subplot about Carl finding his father (played by Ralph Brown as a stoner, for a change), Curtis cannot bring any subplot to a satisfying conclusion and so resorts to Mamma Mia director Phyllida Lloyd’s trick of battering the audience with relentless upbeat exhibitionism. There are a seemingly infinite number of montages showing people dancing around their radios, cross-cut with shots of DJs yelling tedious insults about penis size at each other over the assorted Sounds of the  Sixties. If you thought Good Morning, Vietnam would have been a better movie without Robin Williams or the clumsy rhetoric about the horrors of war, you were wrong.

Perhaps Curtis has watched too many clip shows on Channel 4, and thinks that as long as he adds a couple of  scenes that resonate enough to get a mention in one of those time-wasting monstrosities then his job is done. The only moment that generates an emotional response is when Chris O’Dowd’s virginal DJ Simple Simon Swofford is jilted by his new bride (January Jones, not setting the world of comedy on fire with her two scenes). As she leaves him after seventeen hours of marriage to be with Rhys Ifans’ lothario Gavin, a heartbroken O’Dowd plays Lorraine Ellison’s gut-wrenchingly beautiful Stay With Me and mimes along, face contorted in pain.

Sadly, any hope that this scene will add an extra dimension by reflecting on the emotional fallout that can come with free love and — more importantly — what these characters actually think other than “Fab grooviness!”  is futile. O’Dowd seemingly forgives Ifans a few minutes later, and by the end of the movie he has found a new love interest whose boobs drive him into paroxysms of screeching joy. The calculation of Curtis is even more apparent when — during a credit sequence that features much of the leftover footage of the cast members dancing badly — Ellison’s breathtaking version of Stay With Me is replaced by a soulless cover version by Welsh squeak-merchant Duffy. Cross-media synergy pours from the screen, with Duffy’s impression of a jilted mouse providing the soundtrack.

Making this nostalgic movie in the Internet age — where we have a hither-to unheard-of opportunity to express ourselves or find like-minded individuals — there is potential here for an exploration of what it was like to live in an era when broadcasting thoughts and music from the fringe was a privilege of a select few willing to oppose the restrictive establishment. The Boat That Rocked is not interested in that, and shouldn’t be criticised for telling a different story. Nevertheless, what we get instead of an exploration of… well, anything, is a melange of disconnected anecdotes and an ill-defined shout of rage at officious nay-sayers who think they have the right to monitor and protect our morals. It’s impossible to tell if Curtis has anything substantial to say within the chaos of this edit, though it must be noted that his rush to paint the British government as the enemies of anything progressive means he has to attribute the formation of the pirate-radio-killing Marine Offences Act to a joyless villain with no soul. In real life the act was put into law by the Postmaster General, who at the time was Tony Benn, one of the most fearless and progressive politicians the UK has ever seen. Even though Curtis has made it clear that his movie is a fantasy, it’s still inspired by reality, and this misrepresentation of what Benn stands for leaves a sour taste in the mouth.

The Boat That Rocked is worth avoiding for many reasons: the relentless wave of forced glee, the depressing stream of witless dick jokes, the contrived Field-Of-Dreams-esque uplift of the final scene. However, beneath the whirl of colour and cheekiness  of his fantasy world is a mass of contrivance that betrays the far more interesting and complex tale of the battle between Radio Caroline and Tony Benn. Any serious message that could be derived from the very real conflict between the government and the motormouth DJs of 60s pirate radio has been drowned out by the endless Funn! ™, leaving us with a Cool Brittania promo vid that would have seemed hoary last decade. It’s a vapid exercise in nostalgia porn that wallows in the murkiest waters of seaside-postcard-esque British culture and reveals Curtis’ carefully sculpted reputation as a writer of sophisticated comedy is an empty PR fantasy. Other than the similarly regressive Lesbian Vampire Killers — a contender for worst movie of the decade — The Boat That Rocked is the most dispiriting British film released in 2009. Do yourself a favour and find a copy of Allan Moyle’s Pump Up The Volume instead. It features 100% less Rhys Ifans and has Leonard Cohen and Sonic Youth on the soundtrack. It’s good enough to make me moodily dance around my radio.

What to expect? Nostalgia, that’s what. Hey, having been a part of the ’60s, I can love it. But only for the music memories, nothing else. What we’ve got here in “Pirate Radio” (originally “The Boat That Rocked” in its openings abroad) is mindless, disorganized comic rambling amid colorful characters, well-performed, but with a hopelessly lame plot. God, the memories are sure there. But that’s all. Loaded with solid Brit performers and one terrific Yank, flowing with major energy on a course to nowhere, the film just hands all responsibility for audience communication to its great pop songs of the day. It sports an effervescent, boundlessly charming impudence with in-your-face jokes, avoiding even a mild attempt at a dicey relationship. It’s good beatin’ feet for those who were 60s teenagers, with a fair share of potty humor. The film also has a burdensome amount of screen time, overestimating its primary value as a partyin’ movie. There is no consistent tone. It is aimless except as a portrayal of youth turning against a pretentious, pompous world of adults by integrating a new form of music that not only defined, but was their very being.

“Pirate Radio” Movie Review
By [http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=Marty_Meltz]Marty Meltz

“Pirate Radio” (my 0-10 rating: 5)

Genre: Comedy

Director: Richard Curtis

Screenplay: Richard Curtis

Cast: Philip Seymour Hoffman, Bill Nighy, Rhys Darby, Rhys Ifans, Nick Frost, Kenneth Branagh, Tom Sturridge, Talulah Riley, January Jones

Time: 2 hrs., 15 min.

Rating: R (for language, and some sexual content including brief nudity)

What to expect? Nostalgia, that’s what.

Hey, having been a part of the ’60s, I can love it. But only for the music memories, nothing else. What we’ve got here in “Pirate Radio” (originally “The Boat That Rocked” in its openings abroad) is mindless, disorganized comic rambling amid colorful characters, well-performed, but with a hopelessly lame plot. God, the memories are sure there. But that’s all.

Loaded with solid Brit performers and one terrific Yank, flowing with major energy on a course to nowhere, the film just hands all responsibility for audience communication to its great pop songs of the day. It sports an effervescent, boundlessly charming impudence with in-your-face jokes, avoiding even a mild attempt at a dicey relationship. It’s good beatin’ feet for those who were 60s teenagers, with a fair share of potty humor.

The film also has a burdensome amount of screen time, overestimating its primary value as a partyin’ movie. There is no consistent tone. It is aimless except as a portrayal of youth turning against a pretentious, pompous world of adults by integrating a new form of music that not only defined, but was their very being.

Writer-director Richard Curtis fabricates a tale of desperate youth yearning for the free expression of Rock in a battle with stuffy, unyielding, entrenched reactionaries. Except that it never gets to be a story.

Here we are in 1966 to see Carl (Tom Sturridge), recently expelled from school, now shipped off by his mum (Emma Thompson) to go out and find himself. He’s to stay with his godfather, Quentin (Bill Nighy), who operates a (fictional) pirate radio station in the North Sea named Radio Rock beyond official British waters. Carl will learn that actually one of the outrageous individuals aboard is his dad, his job to figure out which.

Carl, who has never seen, nor known the identity of, his father, now finds himself in a new school of life, one populated by eccentric deejays, the top dog of which is The Count (Philip Seymour Hoffman). This guy airs daily to 25 million Brit youths who feel deprived of rock in Britain’s greatest era of that music. (In actuality pirate radio stations were quite legal. By technical means, the government just jammed them, but later, seeing the money to be made, the BBC, with the best DJs going, co-opted rock and made it legit.)

In the film, when the government views the broadcasts as threats to English morality, Minister Darmody (Kenneth Branagh) makes it his personal mission to legally annihilate Radio Rock and everybody involved. Darmody, to make things more dicey, is young Carl’s unknown father. The BBC was under contract to produce solely live music, thus leaving only 45 minutes a day to playtime for rock.

The ship of quirky fanatics is run by slick-suited, shaded Quentin (Bill Nighy) who sees his job as maintaining order. But of course it’s a world of rock aboard this vessel and zany capers are the order. Quentin first loves freedom over what he sees as the soul-less British establishment.

Bill Nighy is a gem of cool and Philip Seymore Hoffman is amazing in the way he always chooses the most pitch perfect roles for himself.

Marty Meltz, [http://www.martymoviereviews.com]http://www.martymoviereviews.com, was the 30-year films critic for the Award-winning Maine Sunday Telegram till 12/30/2007 when it was terminated for budget measures.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Marty_Meltz http://EzineArticles.com/?Pirate-Radio-Movie-Review&id=3267577

1939 is set between present-day London and the idyllic British countryside in the time before the beginning of the Second World War. At a time of uncertainty and high tension, the story revolves around the formidable Keyes family, who are keen to uphold and preserve their very traditional way of life. The eldest sibling Anne is a budding young actress who is in love with Foreign Office official Lawrence, but her seemingly perfect life begins to dramatically unravel when she stumbles across secret recordings of the anti-appeasement movement. While trying to discover the origin of these recordings, dark secrets are revealed which lead to the death of a great friend. As war breaks out Anne discovers the truth and flees to London to try to confirm her suspicions, but she is caught and imprisoned and only then does she finally begin to discover how badly she has been betrayed.

Operazione Valchiria è un film del 2008 thriller storico ambientato nella Germania nazista durante la seconda guerra mondiale. Il film descrive il momento in cui degli ufficiali dell’esercito tedesco preparano il piano, fino alla messa in atto, per assassinare Adolf Hitler e di utilizzare l’operazione Valchiria come piano nazionale di emergenza per prendere il controllo del paese.

Leggi altre notizie su: | Bryan Singer | Tom Cruise | Kenneth Branagh | Bill Nighy | Tom Wilkinson

To all our listeners, this is what I have to say – God bless you all. And as for you bastards in charge, don’t dream it’s over. Years will come, years will go, and politicians will do fuck all to make the world a better place. But all over the world, young men and young women will always dream dreams and put those dreams into song. Nothing important dies tonight, just a few ugly guys on a crappy ship. The only sadness tonight is that, in future years, there’ll be so many fantastic songs that it will not be our privilege to play. But, believe you me, they will still be written, they will still be sung and they will be the wonder of the world.

– The Count

Pirate Radio is Americanized version of the British film, The Boat That Rocked that was released earlier this year across the pond. The television trailer advertised this movie as a single American deejay taking a stand to the British government. That is not entirely true. So much have been cut out that it makes the story boring. It did.

In 1966, radio stations in Britain play less than forty minutes of rock and roll music a day. There is a single boat called Radio Rock in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean that broadcasts 24 hours of rock and roll.

A young man, Carl (Tom Sturridge) is sent to the boat, because he was expelled from school for smoking some grass. His godfather, Quentin (Bill Nighy) is the owner of the pirate radio station. Carl is introduced to the various deejays there like The Count (Philip Seymour Hoffman), Angus (Rhys Darby), Dave (Nick Frost), Simon (Chris O’Dowd), Mark (Tom Wisdom) and Bob (Ralph Brown).

Carl becomes one of the helpers with News John (Will Adamsdale), Thick Kevin (Tom Brooke), Felicity (Katherine Parkinson) and Harold (Ike Hamilton). The pirates want to stand up to the status quo.

The British government wants to shut down the pirate radio station by Sir Alistair Dormandy (Kenneth Branaugh). He thinks that the music is corrupting the youth to drink, fornicate, and experiment with drugs. His only mission is to shut down the radio station within a year.

Alistair enlists Twatt (Jack Davenport) to help shut down the station. First, they have it to illegal to advertise on the station. It seems to work, but the station brings back a retired deejay, Gavin (Rhys Ifans) to woo the advertisers back. The Count is threatened by Gavin’s arrival.

Alistair has grown impatient with Twatt “going for the jugular”. Twatt finds a way to shut them down when a fisherman’s distress call is blocked. They try to get the public on their side by January 1; pirate radio will be illegal because the endangerment of fisherman on the open seas, The Marine Offenses Act.

I thought that the movie was be about the the government trying to shut down the pirate radio station, but it’s not. I had to have these twists and turns about coming of age and paternity determination. It’s like a dead fish wrapped in the newspaper sitting on the deck for a week. PSH tries so hard to recapture his Lester Bangs persona, but it falls short here. The classic rock & roll music was the redeeming quality this movie.

Judgment: A watered down movie that doesn’t keep your attention afloat.

Rating: ***

From the mind that brought us Love Actually, comes Pirate Radio.  I feel that this is worth mentioning, because Love Actually is a film that I actually love.  I have watched it a number of times, simply because it holds up in a way that I can’t see Pirate Radio holding up. 

Pirate Radio (or The Boat That Rocked, depending on what side of the pond you’re on) has the dream team of actors, from all walks of life, just as Love Actually did.  Sure we’re missing Colin Firth and Hugh Grant, but this ensemble has the chops to pull it off. Nick Frost, Rhys Darby, Chris O’Dowd, Bill Nighy, and Philip Seymour Hoffman bring the funny, and never miss a beat along the way.  Do they, however, reach the same synchronistic Nirvana that  was achieved by the Love Actually crew?   

Horn rim glasses. Austere look. Must be a 1960's British bureaucrat.

Lamentably,  they come close to the mark, but never quite hit.  The talent is immeasurable on this film, but they all act out their roles as if they are vying for the spotlight, rather than working as the ensemble cast they were meant to be.  Which, honestly, seems strange to me being that so many of the actors come from the ensemble television comedy circuit.  Many of the performances seem almost self contained and given for the benefit of an audience (and yes I realize they are broadcasting to an unseen audience, some of the time) rather than having that natural, conversational flow.  And maybe this is meant to show us a facet of the Disc Jockey, wherein they have this talent to perform and never really shut it off, but to me it seemed more like a lack of cohesion. 

Notable performances that are unaffected by the lack of unity, come from Jack Davenport as Mr. Twatt (that is not a mistake…his name was Twatt) the assistant to Sir Alistair Dormandy played by Kenneth Branagh.  Plus, noteworthy cameos from the resplendently kittenish January Jones and  the incomparable Emma Thompson.

The story is exactly as it’s presented in the synopsis or as seen in the preview.  It progresses as expected, with few surprises for the audience.  Up until the last fifteen minutes it’s easy to be on board with the pirates, and then the film takes a turn for the absurd.   Events transpire, which are not all that unexpected.  What is a bit divergent is the manner in which the main characters react to the events and the ultimate outcome.  Again, not that surprising, but the end really does err on the side of unbelievable absurdity. 

The movie had a real comedic edge to it, which I enjoyed.  It’s very linear in it’s style of storytelling, which allows the audience to focus more on the comedic elements and less on “who is doing what again and with who.”  I mentioned my love of Love Actually, which made it difficult to separate the two films regardless of the fact that they are two completely different beasts.   Pirate Radio didn’t reach that same pinnacle, but it does, in fact, give us a well told story, some memorable moments, all while utilizing a very funny cast of characters.     

So this will be short and sweet. With Oscar season approaching with lightning speed, people gotta lighten up. Every movie is not gonna be a contender, it just isn’t.  This movie will not be at the Oscars, however it is just plain fun. Pirate Radio brings us back to a time when rock and roll was outlawed.

Floating in the North Sea these men would pump Rock and Roll music into the stuffy homes of England. It was back in those days that the BBC had a monopoly over what made it on the airwaves. They played rock for 2 hours a day. These outlaws played it 24 -7. Rocking faces off that needed to be rocked. The funniest part about the story is had they lightened the hell up and played a bit more music, these guys would never have made headlines.

The cast is great, rounding out some people I don’t really know with some great actors. Kenneth Branagh and Philip Seymour Hoffman to name a few.  There is also a character who is named Twatt.  Not really important, it just makes me laugh. That’s what this movie did, it was a good time. I highly recommend it to anyone who likes Rock and Roll music. In my opinion it succeeded where Taking Woodstock failed. (Check out my review of that: http://damrb.wordpress.com/2009/08/31/taking-woodstock/)

Was the plot good?  Not really.  However, I stress again it was fun. Just check it out.

I give it 3 pitchforks:

If I had to do a stuffy review I would give it 1 and a half. However I don’t, so I’m leaving it at that.  Rock on, and damn the man…and such.

I have been a fan of Astro Boy ever since I saw the animated series in the early 1980s. I never realized the series was such a phenomenon in Japan and had been around since the 1950s.

What separated Astro Boy from other cartoons of the 1980s was its emotional and poignant core story. It was groundbreaking for me when I was watching cartoons because it meant more than just trying to make me laugh or save the day.

The story of Astro Boy is about a genius robotics engineer named Doctor Tenma, who’s most treasured possession is his son Tobio (Toby in most English verions). His son’s love is all he lives for. But one day Tobio follows his dad to work to see his latest invention. Tobio gets caught when the invention malfunctions and is killed right in front of Tenma.

In Tenma’s misery he creates a perfect robotic duplicate of his son with a couple enhancements to protect him. But like all little boys, Astro has to learn to walk, talk, fly, blast and well grow up. Eventually Tenma realizes that Astro could never replace his son and alienates Astro so Tenma’s best friend Dr. Elefun to raise Astro.

Eventually Astro learns to become more human and becomes a protector of the city.

The story was emotional one with complicated characters and it meant a lot to see so much in a series for kids.

The 2009 CGI-animated movie takes a lot of liberties but the soul of Astro is there. I found Tenma (voiced by Nicolas Cage) to be a lot colder and kind of devious. I remembered the robot circus and how much the story of Astro is a lot like Pinnochio but I was confused with the flying city and the trash heap of a world below.

IMAGI the company who adapted Astro for the big screen also took some liberties when they adapted The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles in TMNT. The turtles splitting up, the zany new villain and the death of Shredder. And they took alot of liberties with Astro.

I liked seeing Astro in a whole new light but something was missing in the story. I laughed when they asked him what was up with his hair and he says its just gel!

But the rest just felt so foreign and didn’t have the edge mixed with innocence that I remembered. Also all the new support characters I felt seemed forced in some respect and I remembered that side of Astro coming from a different place.

I hope that new kids seeing this movie will find that heartfelt story of a father’s love that I saw all those years ago. I might have been young but that story still resonates with me today.

3 out of 5

So Says the Soothsayer

Suck on that, Pirates Of The Carribean!!!!!

In 1966, a group of rogue British DJs set up a radio station on a tiny boat in the North Sea to broadcast generation-defining — and banned — music to millions. The crew includes boss Quentin (Bill Nighy), the Count (Philip Seymour Hoffman), Gavin (Rhys Ifans) and Dave (Nick Frost). But eager to sink the party is persnickety Sir Alistair Dormandy (Kenneth Branagh).

Now this was released in Britain a long time ago entitled The Boat That Rocks. I know they bummed down that film from 135 minutes to now a 115 minutes, and to be truly honest I was glad to know this.

The one thing I liked first about this film going in was that it was directed by Richard Curtis, who did British classics Four Weddings and a Funeral and Love Actually both are great comedies, and this one is a nice add to his resume. He makes sure that all the strong points within this film are brought up and resolved by the end, and make sure every little person on board gets enough face-time.

The film also does have many moments that are genuinely funny, just not hilarious as I would be expecting from a grade-A crew and cast like this. Too many jokes are played out to where they are funny, and then just out of nowhere become annoying. There are also too many jokes about lesbians, since there is a lesbian on board.

Also, I feel like this film could’ve been a lot more daring and raunchier with it’s material. I don’t know if this is weird or not but I was just expecting since this is a film about rock, I would expect a lot more rock stuff to be happening, but hey that’s just me.

The film has a great ensemble cast with some of the best British and notably one of the best American acts in it’s film, but it doesn’t quite capitalize on that. The cast is funny and the chemistry is good between them, but I felt like some of the screen time could have been given to more people like Seymour Hoffman and Nighy. They didn’t quite get a huge chance to show off their comedy, and at times are rarely seen.

The soundtrack to this film is what is the best part of this film. In some cases I would say but the soundtrack forget the movie, but for this I’m saying do both. The soundtrack is electrifying and what really keeps this film entertaining. Some cool elements to this film is that many of the songs actually do fit in with the scenes that are going on, so it did create a good and powerful mood for that one scene.

Consensus: Pirate Radio may be a little uneven at points and at times disappointing, but it has some good funny moments with an exciting soundtrack which makes this film exciting throughout.

7.5/10=Rentall!!!!

Gavin makes the young ladies of the United Kingdom quiver in "Pirate Radio".

(Richard Curtis, 2009)

November 14, 2009

by Joel Crary

Watching “Pirate Radio” is like taking part in a 135-minute high school cafeteria food fight. At first, you can’t believe everyone’s getting away with it, but at around the 30-minute mark you kind of become desensitized to the dessert-flinging and start to realize what a giant mess everything is.

A shame, because there is some great talent in the film. In an early scene, young Carl (Tom Sturridge) is introduced to the crew of the Radio Rock, and my grin widened as the character actors stepped forward: Nick Frost, Rhys Darby, Chris O’Dowd, Katherine Parkinson. These are people I know and love from television and film and to see them all gathered in one place gave me high hopes for “Pirate Radio”. As if things couldn’t be looking better, Rhys Ifans and Bill Nighy were on board, and the one and only Philip Seymour Hoffman looked to be performing a role akin to Lester Bangs in “Almost Famous”. One of the simple joys in life is watching Hoffman rock out to late 60’s era rock n’ roll music, an extensive playlist of which is present in “Pirate Radio”.

Unfortunately, these terrific actors spend almost absolutely no time at all talking about the music. We see them on their boat in the North Sea, broadcasting The Who and The Rolling Stones to millions of listeners, much to the chagrin of the British government. Each DJ has his own shtick in place to build a cult of personality and tempt scores of women onto the boat for a quick shag. We understand quickly that the pirate’s life is hedonistic and desirable and cool. But what about the songs? Why do these people feel it necessary to spend their lives at sea, other than the fact that rock n’ roll allows them to take advantage of their lifestyles?

Hoffman’s character, the Count, is a total lite version of Bangs. He’s an American DJ who came aboard the ship in the absence of Gavin (Ifans), a Brit who left for greener pastures in America. For whatever unexplained reason, Gavin has decided to come back and a rivalry grows between the two. It is a competition that should blossom out of a mutual respect, but respect for what? Where do these men come from? Besides a desire to ruffle the feathers of the powers that be, what fuels their drive to get rock n’ roll out to the masses? “These are the best days of our lives,” the Count tells Carl as the ship’s time at sea seems to be drawing to an end. Carl doesn’t believe him, and it’s no wonder.

The powers that be are tightly encased within Sir Alistair Dormandy (Kenneth Branagh), a government minister with a very precise haircut. Branagh puts in the film’s sharpest comedic performance. His second in command is Twatt (Jack Davenport), who digs up as much ammunition against the rogue DJs as he can to shut their operation down. It is a testament to Branagh’s brilliance that I laughed every single time he offered a bit of dialogue that played on his subordinate’s name (“Well done, Twatt”).

The film contains several storylines involving the loss of Carl’s innocence, the identity of his real father, the short-lived marriage of one character to a fan, and Dormandy’s efforts to shut the radio station down. Director Richard Curtis periodically gives us shots of young people tuning in to the broadcasts and eating up the words and music of the DJs, sneaking radios under their pillows and into bathrooms to indulge in their rock n’ roll fantasies. Things turn a bit hectic for the ship in the film’s conclusion with some nice camerawork and harrowing action.

“Pirate Radio” embellishes a lot on the practices of pirate radio stations of the era including Radio Caroline, but not a lick of this story is true. I liked the film’s energy, but it’s only sporadically funny and it doesn’t have an affection for the songs and records that a story like this should have. Released overseas as “The Boat that Rocked”, “Pirate Radio” suffers from editing problems that leave its characters to flounder. The DJs don’t seem to be serving any sort of socially important function, but are instead living selfishly for the glorification of their immature egos. Near the end of the Radio Rock’s short-lived seafaring career, each crew member throws their hands in the air and salutes rock n’ roll. They all know the moves, but no one knows the music.