So, back to the real movies. Iron Man did the business, and The Incredible Hulk was next up. Starring Edward Norton as Bruce Banner, who is trying to control his inner green beast by running away from the US military. Having caught up and attacked him, The Hulk destroys all there nice toys and inspires one army dude, a Brit called Emil (Tim Roth) to try some of this dangerous radiation for himself. This makes him The Abomination an even uglier hulk-type, and a danger to everyone. Who's gonna stop him? A clue: He's big and green. The visuals are great, the pseudo-science logical, and the scope for sequels vast. 4/5

The Happening is scary. Not torture-porn scary, but WTF!? scary. Here's the plot: something happens, some humans die, some others try not to. Presumably already spoofed in that excuse for a film I won't mention again, The Happening stars Mark Wahlberg and Zooey Deschanel (He used to rap - badly, she sings now - sweetly, tho' not in this), as a couple caught up in the thing wot is Happening. Its got old school huh! whats there! scares and a strong cast altogether. If you don't like the ending then maybe it'll happen to you. 4/5  (You'll have noticed by now that this means i liked it)

Wanted is an 18-certificate film. With guns. This generally means a number of other things. Like a secret society. Check. And a car chase/shootout. Check. And a sexy lady. Check. The good thing about all this is that it is better than Shoot 'Em Up of Smokin'  Aces. It doesn't even need an apostrophe. James 'Young Man, Solid Lead' McAvoy who's mostly working class and/or pestering ladies in period costume, is a loser. He's recruited to The Fraternity and promptly beaten up by Morgan Freeman's cronies. Eventually they've got him killing baddies. And he kills people well. With SFX coming out of his ears. Well acted by everyone, and what a cast! Angeline Jolie joins James and Morgan and there's the sort of supporting cast that'd make a Hustle fan whoop. 4/5

Right then. June's seen a big green fella in stretchy purple trousers, Marky Mark running from something and James McAvoy cosing up to Angeline Jolie (lucky git!). If you have seen what i've seen and want to know what else I'd see here goes...

Last chance to see (if you can find somewhere in the fist place)

The King of Kong & Gone Baby Gone 

Arcade game contest doc AND missing child mystery from Affleck's Ben and Casey.

Probably still out somewhere small

Taxi to the Dark Side & Hors de Prix (Priceless)   

Doc on USA's Torture to tackle Terror AND Audrey Tatou's money grabber in French Romcom.

Brit flicks versus Babe with bite (out last week)

Adulthood, The Escapist ,  The Edge of Love  &  Teeth

Noel Clarke's Kidulthood comes of age. Brian Cox's Prison Break, Keira and Sienna romance with Dylan Thomas, and Girl meets guy, castrates guy, becomes weapon against bad guys.

Jack Black's CGI Karate Kid, Narnia: The Sequel and French Femmes Fight in WW2  -  Out today (27th)

Kung Fu Panda, The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian  & Les Femmes de l'ombre (Female Agents)    

Roll on that lot and roll on the rest of the summer! 

April

Son of Rambow  4/5 Fun family film, full of comic action and French exchange cool.

21  4/5

Forgetting Sarah Marshall  4/5 Strong Judd Apatow comedy like Knocked Up. 

May 

Iron Man 4/5 Fantastic Marvel Comic Movie/Franchise-starter, Sequel due 2010.

Doomsday

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

 
Still looking forward to....

June - 13th The Happening & The Incredible Hulk. 27th Wanted.

July - 2nd Hancock. 4th Kung Fu Panda. 18th Wall-E. 25th The Dark Knight.

August - 15th Get Smart. 22nd Hellboy 2: The Golden Army & You Don't Mess With The Zohan.

September through December  (in no particular order)- Step Brothers, A Max Payne movie, a new Coen brothers comedy, Shia La Bouef gets terrorised, Simon Pegg annoys everyone, Tropic Thunder, RocknRolla, Death Race, Babylon A.D. Pineapple Express, Bond, Harry Potter.

'08 ain't over yet!

Iron Man is all it’s cracked up to be. The first Marvel superhero movie made without the help of a big studio has everything you'd expect - action, explosions, humour, romance, villains and a guy in a metal suit. If you've seen any of the trailers, you'll know that the story follows Tony Stark, a weapons dealer who has inherited his dad's arms-dealing empire. After a presentation in Afghanistan leads to his capture, Stark is forced to build a WMD for his captors, something which is against his pro-American beliefs. But he doesn't build the WMD; instead he turns himself into one, a flame-throwing, bullet-proof metal man, in his attempt to escape.

The success of Iron Man (it made £5.4 million in its opening three days in the UK, and took $104.2m (£52m) at the US box office over its three-day opening run) is arguably down to Robert Downey Jr. As Tony Stark he's a charming, arrogant, funny and flawed man. The fact that superhero movies (and their sequels, with Iron Man 2 already pencilled in for 2010) often do well shouldn't detract from his performance.

Villain-wise, Stark must fight his captors from Afghanistan, and someone much closer to home. Action-wise, there is a great sequence of Stark developing his hi-tech suit, tonnes of fight sequences and even Iron Man versus some fighter jets!

The rest of the cast is great, with Gwyneth Paltrow as Stark's Personal Assistant/love interest Pepper Potts, Terrence Howard as Jim Rhodes Stark's Army Liaison and Jeff Bridges as Obadiah Stane, Stark's mentor and business partner.

As expected, the visual effects are top-notch, as is the soundtrack. It has an open-ended plot, with plenty of scope for the sequels and other Marvel superhero movies already in the pipeline.

If you take nothing else from this review, then take this - stay until after all the credits. There is another scene which is excellent and well worth the wait for all comic-move fans.

Forgetting Sarah Marshall is a Judd Apatow movie. So if you liked Knocked Up, etc you will probably love this. It stars Jason Segel (who also wrote the script) as Peter, a soundtrack composer who’s in a long-term relationship with a TV star. Or at least he was. After she dumps him, he goes to Hawaii to get away from all the stuff that reminds him of her. Problem is, she’s at the same resort – and she’s with her new boyfriend. If you like the sound of that so far then here’s the bit that might throw you. The new boyfriend is an arrogant British sex-addict & rock star played by, who else? Russell Brand. If that’s lost your interest then please reconsider. FSM is a great laugh, with plenty of feelings stuff too. Boasting a great cast, including – Jonah Hill (Superbad, Knocked Up), Paul Rudd (Anchorman, Knocked Up), Kristen Bell (Veronica Mars) and Mila Kunis  (That 70s Show, Family Guy’s Meg) Forgetting Sarah Marshall is another cracking comedy, and a welcome break from summer heat and deadlines. It’s a funny date movie, only with unnecessary nudity and puppets. What’s not to love?

Firstly, here's what I sent to Pugwash Magazine (in case it didn't make it) The '80s are back. Everybody’s copying, remaking or referencing something that was popular back then. There’s the recent Die Hard sequel, the Transformers movie and Sly Stallone's resurrected both his Rocky and Rambo characters. Amongst all this, Son of Rambow hit our screens last week.Like 'Be Kind, Rewind', a film still inspiring homemade homages, Son of Rambow follows two friends as they make their own sequel to Rambo: First Blood.
Will Proudfoot, a shy, creative boy held back by his strict religious family, meets Lee Carter, the school's craftiest trouble-maker – and they agree to enter ScreenTest, a BBC kids competition. Together these different kids embark on an adventure to rival Rambo's - there's violence, a cool French exchange kid, space dust and coke-fuelled common room dancing, fun with high pressure water and high voltage electricity and plenty of jumping in lakes and off trees.
Full of don't-try-this-at-home hijinks, Will and Lee run around fighting ninjas and flying dogs as they film Will’s odd script.
Laugh-out-loud family fun, with nostalgia for parents and plenty of drama, comedy and action for everyone. 4 out of 5.

It was better than that heavily self-edited nonsense makes out.

Strange Wilderness. Not on the to-watchlist, but funny/gross nevertheless. I'd have liked it better if there were more/any frat-packers, but Jonah Hill as a patriotic, confused redneck is always funny. It is the story of the makers of a failing wildlife programme who go off in search of Bigfoot. It gives new meaning to the phrase 'turkey gobble'.

21. Card sharp blackjack movie starring Jim Sturgess (Across The Universe) as the new recruit to a card-counting team of MIT students. Kevin Spacey plays their lecturer turned hustler, with Laurence Fishburne as the soon to be obsolete security expert on their tail.

I thought this was great. It has maths to discuss and everything! If that doesn't convince you,and it wasn't my favourite part, then perhaps the prospect of Kate Bosworth (Superman Returns)in a number of sexy outfits (and accents) will sway you.

More movies when I've seen 'em. Wanna see these? I saw them at Vue Portsmouth (there's practically nowhere else).

Skins first. Another great series from the young team, who seem to be able to cast all the funniest comedy actors the UK has to offer. Bill Bailey and Mark Heap were excellent as various dads, shame they never met onscreen.

SKINS NEWS: All the massive group of friends that form the central cast of Skins - Sid, Cassie, Tony etc. - are to be replaced for the next series, with auditions already happening in London. Only Effie (Tony's sister) is staying, and with the auditions asking for 16 & 17 year olds, it looks like we'll be going back to the start of six form/college. Having already been drugged and having nursed her brother back to health following the bus crash of series 1, what on Earth could Effie get up to next?

Shameless. I'd never seen this before and I loved it. Everyone at home did, consistently laugh out loud funny.

Bones. SkyOne's best forensic dramedy (oh yeah I did that!). Back the other week, we've already had the kiss that the Sky magazine was teasing us about, as the team try to catch various evil-doers, especially The Gormogon killer.

Doctor Who & Torchwood. A much improved second series of TW has finished, with the latest series of DW starting a few weeks ago. The first ep of DW was a bit silly, but the second saw some good character development. Roll on the Ood!

Heroes. BBC2's Torchwood-shaped filler (an expensive one mind you) is back on from next Thursday. With reports that the first few eps aren't up to scratch but that it improves soon enough, just give it a little time if it disappoints. It won't though.

MORE NEWS: Charlie Brooker, BBC Four's cranky TV grumpus, is going to write a horror series for digital channel E4. Click here for the BBC's story. Channel Four seems to know less about it than the Beeb, but then they do keep Charlie in a cupboard full of TV's for most of the autumn, so they probably got it out of him through the inhumane use of I'd Do Anything.

And Finally. ITV has some stuff worth watching too. Other than crime drama, which they do quite well, they've got Headcases. A great reason to try out ITV's catch-up service, this is Spitting Image for the digital age. Everyone from Gordon Brown to Katie and Peter get done over (metaphorically). It’s funny 'cos its too close to the truth.

P.S. Feel free to comment on any of my blogs. If I’m not mistaken, there's a few hundred of you out there who read this rubbish, so you must have something to say.

Of course, I can't vote for him, the whole things American politics and I'm not a citizen, but I couldn't let the events of yesterday go by without comment.

At 3pm EST, a press conference of Dent's was interrupted by a hostage situation at a nearby delicatessan. Risking his own life, Dent apprehended the armed maniac - who was threatening to kill an innocent woman - and convinced him to let her go. This awe-inspiring incident was picked up by nearby microphones - probably from the press conference - and can be heard here. 

Despite the distance, I have been following the events of this campaign and can only describe Harvey Dent as a hero. He's exactly what Gotham needs to fight crime and I'm with him all the way.

In movie news, new promotional material for Speed Racer has been released. You can watchthe excellent new trailer - which adds a new dimension to the plot - over here at firstshowing.net. This has got to be the best racing/anime adaption the world will ever see! Check my summer movies round-up for the link to the official site and to see what else I'm looking forward to seeing.

British indie comedy. Out 25th April. Mackenzie Crook accidentally kills two people whilst driving his train. He finds out that if he kills a third the company will sack him and he'll get a big pay-off. Will he find someone willing to die just so that he can escape his dreary career? Also starring the sexy Gemma Arterton (St. Trinians and next Bond Film Quantum of Solace) as a love interest and featuring celebri-chav Kerry Katona as a 'chav with a heart of gold', this sounds like a barrell of black-comedy laughs.

Smart People

Next film featuring the excellent Ellen Page of 'Juno' fame. US indie dramatic romcom. Out 9th May. Page plays the quick-witted sharp-tongued daughter of a dressed professor (Dennis Quaid, of the excellent Vantage Point). She tries to cheer him up, but the smart money's on local doctor Sarah Jessica Parker. Will dead-beat adopted brother Thomas Haden Church (Sandman in Spiderman 3) spoil everything? Looks fun and uplifting with some quotable quips.

Step Brothers

Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly play brothers angry at each other, with hilarious consequences. Out 22nd August. The trailer (follow the link) is genuinely funny - in the way you expect any film with these two in it. The whole thing looks like an excuse to get Will and John to shout at each other and fling silly insults - excellent! The fact that they act like kids is sure to lead to comedy gold - like that kid gang attack in the trailer. Bound to cheer up even the prof. from Smart People, Pineapple Express (see previous film blog) finally has some competition.

Couldn't let those gems pass you by! 

I hope to review each of these (or at least write a bit more about them) as I see them - meanwhile check out these links (there's much more than trailers on most of them) and firstshowing.net for all the trailers, exclusive pics and the viral marketing of the big blockbusters plus the best indie films from SXSW.

April - 4th Son of Rambow & Funny Games U.S. & I'm a Cyborg, But That's OK. 11th  21 & [REC]. 18th Happy-Go-Lucky. 25th Forgetting Sarah Marshall & Persepolis

May - 2nd Iron Man. 9th Doomsday & Vexille & Where in the World Is Osama Bin Laden?. 16th Speed Racer & The Air I Breathe. 22nd Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. 23rd Dangerous Parking.

June - 13th The Happening & The Incredible Hulk. 27th Wanted.

July - 2nd Hancock. 4th Kung Fu Panda. 18th Wall-E. 25th The Dark Knight.

August - 15th Get Smart. 22nd Hellboy 2: The Golden Army & You Don't Mess With The Zohan.

P.S. Do I Believe in Harvey Dent? I'm just not sure anymore.

The tragic death of Sophie Lancaster, killed trying to protect her boyfriend after they were attacked because of their appearance, seems to have opened my eyes to the wide range of news stories where the words 'teenagers' and 'violence' are unfortunately linked.

Its clear that i've been naive. Teenagers, by their very nature, are emotionally charged. But its when this energy is spent fostering hate and encouraging violence against others that we have to sit up and take notice. Today the BBC's News Front pages show no trace of yesterday's verdict against Sophie's killers. Instead the main headlines concerning teenagers are as follows:

• Youths held over Bebo fight plans (6 teens arrested over allegedly organising gang fights online)
  
• Suicide support link established (concerning the recent youth suicides in Wales)
  
• Town bans under-21 alcohol sales (plans to curb anti-social behaviour)
  
• Games ratings face overhaul (are video games the new video nasties?)

All this is bad enough, a sad state of affairs which can only harm the public standing of young people, but then you read about this:

Anti-Emo Riots Break Out Across Mexico

I can't honestly say I've ever properly belonged to any subculture, but reading that article still makes me feel sick. If teenagers are acting like this across the world, then where is the hope for the future of civilised society?

I know that this sound melodramatic, but when people my age think they've got nothing better to do than beat up others our age, then I wonder where this leaves the number of us that actually care about important things. Y'know not stuff like what people choose to wear or what music they like but things like the massive war thats still going on in the Middle East, global warming, poverty, starvation and so on.

Just a thought.

P.S

Do a little bit of good:

Oxfam 

WaterAid 

Save the Children

Give someone some free rice. 

P.P.S

This was going to have a bit about the great movies out as summer rolls in. But its just not important in comparison. Perhaps I'll feel like it later. 

It took me just two months to get one of my reviews into Pugwash News - my first blog here celebrated that fact.

Now I've made into the magazine. I say now, what I actually mean is recently. The last issue - the one with the snazzy blue/black/grey design - features the following classic book review by yours truly. This is by no means the best bit of this issue, far from it - so don't miss the mag. I know there's still a few out and about the campus to be picked up.

Oh, seeing as this is online now, I might as well stick a few links in it. Enjoy!

Books That Every Student Should Read – Catch-22 by Joseph Heller

            You have probably heard of a ‘Catch-22’, it’s a situation where whatever you do; you can’t get the outcome you want. I’ll give you an example: you’re straight out of uni and you want to get a job, but you can’t get one without any experience - and you can’t get any experience without a reference from a previous job. Whatever you try you can’t get a job.

            What you might not know is that the term ‘Catch-22’ was coined by Joseph Heller to describe a number of baffling situations in his book of the same name. The book is the story, or rather a number of stories, revolving around Yosarrian, a U.S. Army Air Forces B-25 bombardier. It’s nearing the end of World War II and he’s sick of flying dangerous bombing missions, but he can’t be excused without being certified insane. But he can’t ask for this because it proves he’s not mad. You see, you’d have to be crazy not to want to get out.

            Written in the same circular style, repeating itself to add further details and finish jokes, Heller’s novel is at times upsetting, confusing and laugh out loud ironic. It is also oddly, given the war theme, erotic in places. His paragraphs often need re-reading, but it is a great read – so good I haven’t finished it yet. And I don’t want to.

5/5

I also recommend: Fahrenheit-451 by Ray Bradbury, Brave New World by Aldous Huxley and The Book of Dave by Will Self.

I found out about this at one of my new favourite haunts online - www.firstshowing.net . I'll try not to blog about everything they do, but I thought this was pretty fun.

Bits and pieces now.....

The BBC's movies section (oddly part of their Film section) is a great resource. I like the film diary, but the whole site is invaluable to a cinephile such as myself. Full of great interview, reviews and so on.

Obviously IMDb is like catnip to me. Its a time-sponge is what it is. I'm working my way through the Top 250, I'm almost a fifth of the way through. At the rate I'm going I might have seen them all before I'm 100. Mind you, it is updated so I might do better if I keep picking corkers like Juno and No Country For Old Men.

Not to be outdone, Channel 4 are great for movie stuff. Film4 the channel is free, which is great for me, and the related Facebook app. is quite good too. The website's Movie Rush is great for trailers, interviews etc. and the Box Office Top 10 bit at the bottom of the Cinema section is great for sorting the wheat from the chaff and cutting through the hype to find the films worth seeing.

The Guardian's film section is worth a look too. 

The Bank Job - Jason Statham and friends rob a bank and find themselves the targets of a conspiracy when they find that they've stolen some incrimating photos. Everyone's out to get them before the photos go public. This is a pretty entertaining, but ultimately forgettable, heist movie. Its funny and violent where it needs to be and the acting's all fine. A fair way to spend an evening if there's no footy on.

Be Kind Rewind -  Jack Black and Mos Def recreate some classic films when the stock of their video store is wiped. This is funny and feel good. Director Michel Gondry is the guy behind Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, another great film. Be Kind Rewind is about loving movies and hating being told to hate piracy.

For official sites and what's next on my list, check my last blog.

The Oscars happened yesterday, despite all that writers' strike stuff, which seems sorted now anyway. For the full list of winners click here. As you might have guessed I'm happy that Juno got an Oscar for Diablo Cody's script - hard to believe its her first. Watch out for more great stuff from her. Check my last blog for links.

I'm happy that the Coen brothers did so well with No Country For Old Men and well done to Javier Bardem for winning best supporting actor - that was a  really creepy character. 

Good to see Ratatouille and Sweeney Todd pick up an award each too. 

Do you think that the Oscars went to the right people? Comment this blog and tell me your thoughts. 

The Bank Job (28th Feb) Brits  rob  bank, unearth  political cover-up  and get  involved in a sex scandal. Based on real events, this stars Jason Statham with guns - what more could you want? Cool seventies soundtrack by the sounds of it as well. For fans of Life on Mars and Crank - which has got a sequel in production as I type. Called Crank 2: High Voltage, it follows Chev Chelios as he tries to find the Chinese mobster who replaced his heart with a battery-powered device that needs shocking to keep him alive. This will not sound stupid if you saw Crank - it sounds frickin' awesome!

Vantage Point (7th March) The US President is shot and the security services need to find the eight people who all had a view of what happened. Puzzle piecing action with Matthew 'Jack from Lost' Fox, Dennis Quaid and Forest Whittaker - of Last King of Scotland fame.

Diary of the Dead (7th March) Like zombies? Like movies filmed handheld-style? Harbour a desire to fight off hoards of brain-eating ex-humans before they eat your guts? Then you'll love the latest flesh-flinging flick from George A. Romero - the first one since the 'Night' original to be 'completely' his own. Clicky for the myspace, which'll be better than the official site when its up I'll bet.

Mister Lonely (14th March) Celebrity impersonators meet and fall in love - or something. Its either really crap or touchingly made with subtleties in each impersonators character which are like who they're pretending to be - or something. Meh. 

Horton Hears a Who (21th March) The first CGI adaption of a Dr. Seuss story, features the voice-talent of Steve Carell, Jim Carrey, Seth Rogen (Knocked up, Superbad), Jonah Hill (err...Knocked up, Superbad and Walk Hard), Isla Fisher (Wedding Crashers, Wedding Daze, Engaged-to-Sacha-Baron-Cohen) and a lot more funny people. Play guess that voice and enjoy the pretty colours and zany plot. Oh, and Mr Eko is a town crier. 

Drillbit Taylor (28th March) Owen Wilson as a 'soldier of fortune' employed by some kids as a bodyguard to protect them from a school bully. Part written by Seth Rogen - yep him again - and with a funny, trailer it looks pretty funny.

If you've read this far and haven't seen Juno yet, I can only say you're missing out. Its a teen movie without the crass stereotyping and its a romcom without the soppy crap. Its up for all the best awards and has one a skipload of them already - deservedly so too.

If you've read this far and have seen Juno, here's some links about the cast and crew.

Screenwriter Diablo Cody's Myspace, and other blog - both great reads.

Director Jason Reitman's Myspace - some great videos on both myspaces.

Juno Official site  and what Ellen Page is up to next including what's already being called a 'lesbian werewolf movie'.

First up was Sweeney Todd - The Demon Barber of Fleet Street. I saw this and then No Country for Old Men - perhaps not a very clever idea. Anyway, Sweeney Todd is a film version of the stage musical by Stephen Sondheim. Therefore everyone sings what they'd be better off saying. This doesn't get old quite as quickly as you may expect, and leaves you plenty of time to love/hate Johnny Depp's singing in the title role. The songs are actually quite funny, despite their gory subject matter, but the best is a duet by Depp and Helena Bonham Carter (acting in her fifth film with hubby Tim Burton in the Director's chair) as Mrs. Lovett a pie shop owner. With cameos from Sacha Baron Cohen (very good) and Anthony Head (blink and you'll miss him), plus the likes of Alan Rickman and Timothy Spall in bigger, creepier roles Sweeney Todd is bloody good, in every sense, but not for the squeamish. 

Minutes later and I'm sat in front of beautiful Texan landscapes as Tommy Lee Jones (ageing local sheriff trying to make sense of a changing world) is on the trail of Josh Brolin (wisecracking opportunist crook) who is being hunted by Javier Bardem (the scariest man - and haircut - of the year)because Brolin stole a case of drug-money. This is a Coen brothers film, and as such requires a bit of interpretation. This is great. I'm not sure if I've seen a Coen brothers film before, least not all the way through, but I like them. I ought to see more of their work. 

So, an unsettling, nerve-jangling, blood-letting evening, all in all.

Perhaps ignoring the headrush of seeing two films back-to-back in the cinema, perhaps encouraging it, I saw Cloverfield and Juno the following Saturday. 

Each recommended by almost all the critics, Cloverfield and Juno share an odd sort of anti-Hollywood sentiment. Cloverfield is a relatively small budget monster movie which focuses on the human story without skimping on the CGI. Whilst Juno couldn't be more independent if it wore a t-shirt with 'Fuck you I'm independent' written on it in big homemade lettering. 

Cloverfield is best known for being the film with THAT mind-blowing trailer. Y'know the one where a party is interrupted by the Statue of Liberty's severed head crashing into the buildings and streets outside. This was just the starting point for fans of Lost-creator J. J. Abram's work. His fans are a different breed. They will pick apart and analyse every snippet of anything even rumoured to be connected to one of J. J's projects. So, if you wanted to, you could follow the big fact hunt for the back-story for Cloverfield. You'd encounter a suspicious slush drinks company, an eco-terrorist organisation and about half a dozen Myspace accounts for the party-going characters. 

I followed all this second-hand, through CloverfieldClues, after I was pointed to the website 1-18-08.com, one of the key parts of the massive online marketing campaign.

It lives up to much of its own hype, and if you've seen it, you too can ponder the possibility of a sequel! I like the idea of a fake documentary which is interrupted during filming by another attack. Perhaps the monster's still alive; perhaps it left something deadly in its wake.

Juno, as you'll have guessed from my earlier uber-blog is a pretty big deal. I wanted to see it almost a month before its full release, so I must have been impressed by a lot of stuff in the trailer. I found out about Juno during a YouTube click-frenzy, and loved the slang that the younger characters speak. I loved the plot, a re-jig of the TV-movie teen pregnancy story - only with heart and laughs, and I loved the fact that it stars Ellen 'Hard Candy/X-Men 3' Page and Michael 'Superbad' Cera. That the film also features a hamburger phone (you'll all want one) left me willing February to come quicker. 

I snaffled advanced preview tickets from Vue (who I'm glad decided to show Juno, even if the American audience had to prove its worth first) and so popped in to one of the smaller screens after the Cloverfield screening looked like it had finished. Turns out it hadn't quite, but I didn't have all day. So to Juno - clever, funny, touching, beautifully filmed, containing inappropriate touching, smart-without-being-smartass, teen-focused without being preachy and the best opening sequence featuring Sunny D and a reference to Etch-A-Sketch. 

And the soundtrack is totally awesome. Buy it, share it, and love it. 

Yesterday featured Russell Brand. He was in both Penelope and St. Trinian's - the last of my twofer Film Fests to date.

Penelope stars Christina Ricci with piggy ears and a snout. Odd though that sentence is, its nothing compared to the accent-fun her fellow actors indulged in. Set in some sort of Mid-Atlantic London, where the Brit-born can practise their US English and the Americans can pretend to be the landed gentry of the UK, it’s hard to place at times. Couple this with the fact that Ricci is still cute as a button despite the bacon-features and certainly not jump-through-a-plate-glass-window repulsive, and you start to wonder who could come up with this head-funk. Reece Witherspoon.  Sort of. She stars in it and her production company - Type A Films - had a hand producing it. It’s a lovely film, if a bit hit and miss. Brand plays a man from the male lead's past, btw.  James McAvoy is that male lead - though you'd never guess by sound alone. I'd have preferred his actual accent, but the films pretty nice as is.

St. Trinian's stars Russell 'tousled-hair sex-fiend' Brand as Flash Harry, the go-between with the criminal underworld for the schoolgirls and hopeful suitor of the Head Girl. She's played by Gemma 'mysterious leaker of Bond secrets' Arterton who is excellent and sexy - sexcellent, yeah I said it.

The plot of St. Trinian's is simple. The school is teetering on the brink of destruction at the hands of Colin Firth as the Education Minister, and the girls see that it's their duty to raise the necessary cash to keep the school in the black. These girls are feisty, no-nonsense and skilled. They decide to steal a famous painting and fence it to get the money, to do this they need entry to the gallery where the painting is, so they cheat their way to the final of a University Challenge-style quiz show presented by Stephen Fry. Here they must attempt a Mission Impossible - steal the art before the Education Minister, his posh bully daughter or the entire crew of the quiz find out their plan. Told you it was simple. 

Drawing its influences both from the previous outings of the troublesome school girls and modern day school tribes - Chavs, Emos, Geeks, unruly first years etc., St. Trinian's is a great laugh.  This is probably because of all the Brit talent this film contains. The previously mentioned cameos are all spot on, but its Rupert Everett as a rich toff art dealer AND his sister, the school's headmistress, who really proves himself. He clearly loved the drag-act, and his Prince Charles-spin as her brother is always good for a laugh.

Phew! I think I'll just sit here now; you can hook the next lot of films to my veins.

"Walk Hard is to musician biopics (Ray, and Walk The Line more specifically) what Anchorman was to TV News. At least i think it is. I haven't seen it yet but the trailer sold me before it had even finished. If you can't laugh at the prospect of Paul "It's called Sex Panther" Rudd (who was great in Knocked Up last year) as John Lennon then I can't help you. The best bit is that he's not even in the main cast, so the quality of the humour in the main story's gotta be high. 

If you're worried about music being belittled in Walk Hard then all i can say is - Jack White as Elvis"

As a whole, the film has a stronger sense of genre than Anchorman - The Legend of Ron Burgundy, because its is a spoof of the musical biopic genre. It is mostly a parody of Walk the Line, the Johnny Cash biopic starring Joaquin Phoenix, so you'll get more laughs from Walk Hard if you see that first. Other than that, Walk Hard draws on the stories of any number of legends of music - Bob Dylan being a good example. The film features cameos from almost everyone who's ever been funny in a Judd Apatow film - Paul Rudd as John Lennon, Jack Black as Paul McCartney, Jason Schwartzman as Ringo Starr and Justin Long as George Harrison. They don't have much screen time, but are very funny together as The Beatles, especially because they're Liverpudlian accents are all over the place.  Jack White is excellent as Elvis, and Frankie 'Malcolm from Malcom in the Middle' Muniz even makes an appearance.

I haven't laughed so hard since I saw Knocked Up and Superbad - also from Apatow. He is truly a comedy genius.

Much kudos to John C. Reilly as the eponymous singer who grows from a small town blues guitarist aged 6, to a music phenenom with scores of offspring, who recounts the story of his life and music. 

The songs are Spinal Tap-esque in places and always sung pitch perfect by Cox and his band. Check out the official site (especially the soundboard) for a taste of Dewey Cox.

You'll never machete-fight in the same way again.