I love cartoons

And once again... As you know I loooove cartoons and I can talk about this forever! Previous posts on this theme here, here and here... Frankly holidays are the best for cartoons. All channels are getting they animation on, there was Flushed away, Graffalo's Child, Snowman and Snowman and snowdog, Film 4 even showed Spirited away.

There is also the traditional holiday feel good film out in the cinema and of course I went to see it, and they do re runs of cartoons during the holidays!

This post is about Frozen and Justin and the Knights of Valour....

When the Frozen goes into the beginning one gets this Scandi feeling, also the fact that there are Fjords, snow and great scandi names like Sven. Turns out this cartoon is actually based on Snow Queen by Anderson, loosely based but that was foundation of the Frozen.

It is a beautiful and shiny Disney film, songs, dancing, magic and uber cuteness! However the love from the 1st sight proved to be not real and at some point there were kids crying in the audience. No one told these poor munchkins that Disney films tend to be happy ending all around.

I actually did not know what to expect what to expect from it, but I giggled and got really sad in few moments... It was cute and I really think its another girly cartoon, not sure the boys will appreciate it as much, I mean the older boys. Wish Owen would offer an opinion on that??

Today I finally today I saw Justin and the Knights of Valour... One things, Antonio Banderas is soo freaking funny!! It is a Knights tale with fast food. Yeah they made a story with some modern life flare, which was actually rather cute in the end.

It was kind of like the The Knights Tale but in  cartoon version and less lame.... Oh and the flying Gustaf the crocodile is sooo funny!!

The big question is would I see these cartoons again... Well yeah, I love cartoons, but I do not think this might be in a near future.




Written by Daria while drinking tons of tea to keep warm...

So it's been a while...

I have not posted in a while due to life and laziness getting in the way but worry not I have been watching films and I do have a few opinions on them. Some were good some were bad and some for a while held the place as my new favourite film. I had every intention of writing about them but it didn't happen so what I thought I'd do is a quick fire run down of the some of those films and what I thought about them.

Iron Man 3

I did a Quick Impression on this after I saw it but since then I have spoken to friends and heard their views on it so thought I'd add this...

So the second phase of Marvels all conquering franchise begins with Iron Man 3. I personally am worried that the Marvel films are going to get old fast and would personally of been happy if they had put the avengers lot on ice after the pinnacle that was Avengers and visited a few other lesser known characters. I mean Iron Man was not the all conquering character it has become since Robert Downey Jr took the role so it would be nice to see some other characters given the limelight. But we are told that this is all set for phase 3 so I will have to wait for Edger Wrights Ant Man movie...which I'm not sure I can.

In fact I think that Iron Man 2 is a great example of why I worry for the franchise as it was not a good movie and suffered as it was more a build up to the main event that was Avengers than a film in it's own right.

So after all this I have to say that what Shane Black has done with Iron Man 3 is exactly the opposite to my fears. I liked the fact that we got to explore the Tony Stark side of Iron Man and I know people who complained that there wasn't enough 'Iron Man' in this film to which I always answer 'who do you think Iron Man is?' you take Tony Stark out of the film and you have no Iron Man.

What I like about the Iron Man films and what has made it so popular is Robert Downey Jr. and his natural humour and charisma. So the more of that the better. Now the Quick Impression I wrote a while ago focuses more on the plot so you can read that to get the rest of my views....spoiler I kinda liked it but didn't love it.

The Purge

So The Purge...The film that stared at me from every phone box in Cardiff for months...the film from the guys that did Paranormal Activity (all be it only the money men)...It's got Ethan Hawke in it and Lena Heady this could be alright. Add in an kinda interesting concept this could be a decent horror.

That was my thoughts going into The Purge and after 30 mins of adverts and trailers and 20 mins of the film those thoughts were now...this concept has now been explained to me twice...I don't really like Hawke or Heady's characters...oh look Lou Carpenters daughter Lolly from Neighbours in it too...and she's playing an idiot!...this is going to be a shit horror.

One thing that is key in any home invasion horror is that you care about the characters and only the son of the family is in any way likable. The rest are just privileged morons who I wanted to die asap. The concept though interesting couldn't support a whole film and it just wasn't scary! Putting a mask on someone and getting them to look at the camera with their head tilted isn't scary if you want that person to get their hands on the people they are after. Plus the end was terrible!

I went to see this so you don't have to. Don't even watch it if your bored and you see it on NetFlix, keep searching and you will find something better I guarantee it.

Margin Call

Margin Call is set over one night during the financial crisis as a group of bankers meet to decide how to handle the impending collapse. It boasts a top cast including Paul Bettany, Jeremy Irons, Zachary Quinto, Stanley Tucci, and the mighty Kevin Spacey all of whom are brilliant. It felt very much like a play with no action violence just people talking and arguing as egos collide. 

The subject of the bank collapse was also fascinating to me and gave me an insight into what went on. At the time I didn't properly understand what the happened to cause the collapse but this movie did a great job of explaining it without at any point dumbing down the language which is testament to the script. Not great but enjoyable and very interesting plus I could watch Spacey and Irons butt heads all day long!

 

Star Trek Into Darkness

Earlier this year I put this in my Ones to Watch list ahead of Iron Man and Man of Steel. It was the big blockbuster that I was most looking forward to this summer and I'm happy to say that it didn't disappoint.

J.J. Abrams is a man who knows how to make a big budget popcorn movie. This had great action set pieces and a fun and interesting plot that I thought flowed nicely. All the cast are likable and embody the spirit of the original show. I really like the relationship between Chris Pine's Kirk and Zachary Quinto's Spock which is natural and funny. These two are ably support by the likes of Simon Pegg and Zoe Saldana but all of these are overshadowed by the brilliant Benedict Cumberbatch who steals every shot he is in and even some that he's not in he's that good! 

Cumberbatch's character is is an enigma in that you are never sure whether to like him or fear him. I personally always came down on the like side. Evey time he is on screen whether it be taking out a Klingon patrol single handedly or delivering a moving monologue he shows that he really is a master of his craft. In fact it was the action scenes that were most pleasing because he has proven that he can act in Sherlock but those scenes showed that there is nothing that he can't do and I hope will mean that he can flourish in Hollywood bring his class with him.

So that's my gushing over Benedict over with all I can say is that if you want a fun and exciting Hollywood blockbuster then watch this. It does what so many other film tries by entertaining while maintaining a high standard in all departments and has a standout performance at it core. I look forward to seeing what Abrams does with Star Wars and if he can somehow find a place for Benedict that would be amazing! :D

Olympus Has Fallen

This film wanted to be Die Hard in the White house. This film wanted to be funny, wanted to be serious want to be tense and it failed at all of them for me. Like The Purge I didn't like any of the characters or care about them. The attack on the White House was a violent moment with innocent people getting gunned down in the street which was impactful but the problem after that was that all the jokes felt in bad taste. In the world we live in where terrorist attacks are a very real thing (this film was released a week after the Marathon bombings) the way that the President and his cabinet deal with the situation was distasteful.

The way that they are willing to hand South Korea to the North Korea just to save the President actually angered me. If Aaron Eckhart's President was the good man that we were meant to believe he was and whom we were meant to route for then he wouldn't have let this happen. I thought that Morgan Freeman was going to be the level headed character that would make the tough calls but he again happily gave into all the terrorist demands just to protect one man. If I have learnt anything from 24 it's that America does not negotiate with terrorists...except in this film!

The fact that Gerard Butler character was meant to have been out of the secret service for 2 years yet all his passwords still work in the White House made me shake my head with disbelief. It was just sloppy writing. Then there is the fact that he tortured a man and killed another whilst making jokes and that man, who minutes earlier had been ruthlessly slaughtering people in what must have been a well planned attack that took years of planning, gives up all the information he can because he was stabbed in his leg. The film can't deal with the themes that it did at the start and also make light of them.

Die hard worked because it was always John trying to save his wife, the stakes were personally high for him but were not on a world stage as this film is. This film is dealing with an event that would likely cause WW3 and because of that I didn't enjoy the humour. A perfect example of how the two themes didn't mix was at one point the President is standing surrounded by the dead services men who had given their lives to protect him and he makes a joke about the White House having great insurance. The film even took time to let you get to know some of the dead service men to know they had young families and this made the joke even more tasteless.

This film gets it all wrong for me. I really hated it. I could rant for hours and pick out many many flaws but I won't. I'm sure a lot of people enjoyed the action and liked it. I think that those people are wrong and would implore them to just go and watch the original Die Hard to see how it's done. To anyone who hasn't seen it then I say DON'T! JUST WATCH THE ORIGINAL DIE HARD!

Up

Lots of people have told me that I have to watch up, that the start is so sad and its such a wonderful film. I eventually was sat down by my friend Mel and I did watch it...sooo I thought that it was OK *waits for screams of disbelief from Disney fans* but hear me out.

Yes it was a bit of a sad start they couldn't have children and he never got to go to the waterfall with his wife this is definitely sad....but I looked at it like this. He met the love of his life when he was 10 and got to spend what must have been 60 years with that person which in my eyes makes him a very very lucky man. Yes in Disneyland this is a sad start but as someone who grew up on Studio Ghibli films this start was pretty happy.

I actually saw in the old man lead character the kind of old person I dread dealing with in work as he was just grumpy and angry at the world and he will drag others down to his level of happiness if possible. I didn't like him and in a film like this that is a problem.

I did however like the Dog and Bird combo and got a fair few laughs out of them. SQUIRREL! There were other moments that were good but not enough for me. It didn't live up to the high standards that peoples praise had made for it. But if others people love it then it must strike the right chord with them I guess. I just have no desire to see it again.

Stoker

I plan on doing a longer post about Stoker when I've watched it again on DVD/NetFlix so all I'm going to say now is simply this...

It's a Chan-wook Park film and it is by far the best film out of this list! :)

Written by Owen
While watching the Lion(Wales) destroy Australia in the 3rd test again.

Sing Along With Owen :D

So do I like musicals? Well I wouldn't say that I am a fan of the traditional musicals and have never seen a live perforamce of any of the 'Classics' or indeed a film adaptation. When I see Les Mis it will be my first experience of it and who knows I may love it.  

But I can say that there are several musical films that I love! Such as....

 They're on a mission from God!

The reason I love Blues Brothers is that it's not a 'Musical' so much as it is an amazing film that happens to have singing in it. The cast being made up of some of the true legends of music with Ray Charles, James Brown and Aretha Franklin who's scene is possibly my favourite scene in the movie. Everyone should experience the story of  Jake and Elwood Blues!

  A mental mind fuck can be nice.

You can't help but love this serreal tribute to the Sci-Fi and B Movie horror films of the 50's and 60's. With Tim Curry and Susan Sarandon spending the night at Tim Currys Dr. Frank-N-Furter castle. Now Frank is a tranvestite who has built his own 'Man' and loves to do the 'Time Warp' whats not to like. Oh and did I mention Meat Loaf is in it!

Then there is the first musical I ever saw and I remember as a young lad watching it again and again. It was a gangster movie but everyone was a kid and they had cream pie guns! what was not to like as a young lad. It was another example of Jodie Fosters talent at a young age and the final singalong scenes at the end is one of my favourite scenes ever. It just looks so fun and can't help but make you smile.I'm talking about...

We could have been anything that we wanted to be

I also love Moulin Rouge it is a visual treat that uses songs that I love to tell its classic tale of love and loss. You have Bowie, The Police, Nirvana and Ewan McGregor's effortless charm and cheeky smile.The whole film is like you are on absenth. Jim Broadbent is quite brilliant in it too.

My last two are both animated and the first one is from Disney but it's not Beauty and the Beast and there are no talking animals in it. It's better than all them because it came from the mind of Tim Burton. It is of cause...

'Twas a long time ago, longer now than it seems in a place perhaps you've seen in your dreams

My final musical is probably as far as you can get from Disney but it's songs are just so catchy and the story of four young boys saving the world is timeless. It is also a film that has a song in it that made my mate Mark and myself cry with laughter. It is a moment I will always remember and upon leaving the cinema that day I was truly happy. The song was 'Uncle Fucker' and the film was South Park Bigger, Longer and Uncut!

EPIC!

So they aren't Singin' In The Rain or The Sound of Music but to me these are the greatest Musicals to be committed to film. 

Written by

Owen while watching Gareth Bale being a legend for Wales

why do we love cartoons so much?

Why do we love cartoons? We are all grown. Is it because we like to feel young again? Or because in busy everyday life we want something to relax and not to over think and something that would look pretty and full of life and colour? And we all are up for fun things in life... well most of us!

Perhaps, it is a family thing in my case... My mother loves to giggle and hates sad films. Yet she even though that How to train your dragon was sad...

"but he lost a limb, it is sad"-she argues... When I though it was so much fun, and Hiccup became a true Viking... It was such a fun cartoon!

Dragons, flights, fights, fun characters  just what everyone of us needs, escape to more entertaining world with no limits and no boring stuff, when everything is an adventure...I do think my mother is over-thinking things sometimes

 Got to say everyone loves Disney! You can perhaps say that it is not true, but then ask you self what was your favorite movie when you were growing up? Mine was Beauty and the Beast, it has a magical love story, pretty girl and a prince. And every little girl wants a prince! Well some grown girls still want a prince, perhaps not on the white horse but on the white Lexus/BMW not a livestock insight!

 I actually found time to go see it on the big screen... I was the only person without a child there...

But I want to talk about anime... These massive eyes and super long legs... and super cute Studio Ghibli...

Also do me a favour and google how to Japanese person would pronounce Ghibli, not what you would expect...

So fun fact of the day is... Ghibli is from Arabic name for Mediterranean wind, so to say Studio Ghibli would be a fresh wind for Japanese Anime. I do think it is rather poetic and changing...

My first Ghibli film was Princess Mononoke... but it has been so long ago that I totally forgot how amazing it was, going to re-watch it soon. However, it was Totoro (My neighbor Totoro) that made me fall back in love with anime. Some one told me that Totoro supposed to be a Chinchilla... well, that's one huge chinchilla!

I would say this picture is one of my favorite ones... Look at the little sisters under the brolly waiting for their father and look how silly and adorable Totoro looks with the leaf on his head!

I think that pretty much all the Ghibli are about love. Any kind of love and self sacrifice. Like when you see that little Chihiro holding on to the Dragon Haku and falling down the shaft with him, it is truly amazing. She just will not let him die! 

I also just watched Ponyo yeasterday... She's one stubborn little fish-girl! And oh so cute... Once again, she loves Sosuke so much she becomes a real girl! 

All the Ghibli cartoons have magic, yet no matter what love always wins and conquers all! Very optimistic, something I really want to believe in!

But my first love for Anime stays the same... Oh Sailor Moon I love you!

But I cannot watch it in English, must be original Japanese with subtitles .. The names are better, I mean really Serena?! What?! 

And it is not edited...

It's very funny and very heart warming. Everything is about love. 

I do want to have a black cat and I will name her Luna!

Also I do dream about a nice trip to Japan... 

Written by Daria, while watching Howl's Moving Castle