Disney have a wonderful way of playing with emotions, and here again they strike gold, making us care about the titular stars – both of whom are actually pretty unlikeable with very few redeeming features! It’s also a surprise to see Disney handling the sci-fi quite so well – the space-based opening sequence especially came as a surprise to me. Disney doesn’t pull any punches when dealing with (Lilo’s) broken family, and the emotion is pretty raw at times… but this is a cartoon, and so of course the emotion is tempered with classic Disney humour and top notch animation, not to mention one or two surprises along the way. There are enough subplots are and adult nods (like Stich playing a B-movie monster rampaging through a model village – awesome!) to keep older watchers engaged, but the action is fast enough to keep younger children enthralled. So, not just one for the kids, although if they get a hold of it, expect viewing after viewing after viewing…..
After a very bizarre opening sequence, this film settles down to it’s main stage, which is a street in New York, and a guy in a phone booth. Shown in real-time, this follows a conversation between a smarmy PR guy (Stu – Colin Farrell) and the nutter on the phone that’s got a high power telescopic silenced rifle trained on him from an overlooking window. The basic premise is that the sniper feels he is doling out justice to those who deserve it (Stu is apparently his third target – the other two being dead), and only by “coming clean” can Stu avoid more deaths. For most of this film, I was on the edge of my seat – the sound of the rifle being cocked set my heart racing every time it happened, and I went from despising Stu, to pitying him, to even sympathising with him. At times I was squirming in my seat with the demands that were made of him. I was kept guessing at every turn (except the very end, which I found a little predictable) – and I thought the portrayal of the police’s role as excellent. Nicely added to the dramatic tension while also bringing in a “will they figure it out” aspect. Not really a family movie, and a real breath-holder, but absolutely worth a rent.
I popped this film into the machine expecting a high tech war/conspiracy thriller/sci-fi – how wrong I was! Despite a very interesting premise and very clever ideas and truly stunning special effects, for me this was ultimately a story of human relationship and adventure – that fact most of it was set hundreds of miles underground was almost irrelevant. Good solid acting all round – hats off the wonderfully odious Dr Zinksy – although one or two more familiar faces wouldn’t have gone amiss. However the story is absolutely gripping – there’s a wonderful sense of the growing tension, and you do end up caring for the crew going down to the core…. It misses out on a fifth star because the ending is just a little too abrupt and neat, the script strays into the incredulous just too often, and it is a little lacking in star value. But definitely worth a rent for an evening’s solid drama and excitement.
Isn’t it strange how compelling other people’s lives are?
I feel like I could spend all day reading other peoples’ weblogs, when actually nearly all of it pretty innane nonsense (much like this one!). In one sense, I still reckon they’re not so different from columns in the press.
Should probably mention that baby boy arrived safely (Ben), and has duly turned our world upside down, especially in the sleep department. 3am was bedtime for Daddy this morning – cheers Ben!
Well, a long time since the last update, but I least I have the excuse of having been away for a week!
We went to Centre Parcs, in Sherwood Forest, which was actually a really good holiday. The villa was very comfy, with excellent heating, plus an open fire! They more or less ban cars from the site (except on changeover days), which makes it quite pleasant to walk and cycle around, and certainly at the time of year that we were there it wasn’t too busy either.
Also just moved into my new office (vey exciting), although it is exceptionally noisy – all the undergraduates talking outside!!
Oh dear, back to business as usual as far as regular updating goes!!
Still, had a most surreal morning this morning. Arriva trains started a new timetable today, which included a loco-driven 4 carriage train – the type with the clunk-click doors (that you have to lean through the window to open). Nothing too odd about that – but they decided to launch this service with a brass band (!), and then give out fake leather Arriva credit card holders to all the passengers(!!). It wasn’t an unpleasant experience, listening to a brass band (pom pom pom!) while waiting for the train, and it probably says something about the state of our railways that they burst into “congratulations” as it pulled into the station (2 minutes late, incidently). And in all fairness it was loads more comfy then the usual trains.
The best bit of the journey, however, was defintely the lovely young lady who sat next to me. As you know, the great British public don’t speak to one another, least of all on the trains, but a brass band and mock leather credit card holders where enough to break the ice, and we had a jolly chat for the whole journey. She seemed to be a real sweetheart, no more than about 23 or 24, and just happy with life. Oh yes, she was dead cute too. 🙂 In a former life I would already be planning to get the same train as her every morning, get her name, number, suggest getting a drink after work or something like that (none of which I would of actually done – far too scary – but I would have planned it <g>).
Anyway, if anyone wants a pseudo-leather credit card holder with “Arriva” written on it, do let me know….
Lovely weekend. Sister-in-law came to visit, which was nice, and we didn’t really plan to do very much, but ended up getting quite a bit done on the house. The ladies did a bit of weeding, I (finally) fitted our night-light to the front porch (which, incidently, is light sensitive, controlled by a circuit I built!), and generally did a bit of tidying up.
The damp people are visiting today, to see if the damp patches that have appeared on our wall are their fault or not, and in any case to treat them. This unfortunately means we can’t decorate that room for another six months, but in some ways that takes the pressure off, and means we can concentrate on other rooms.
Oh yes, and the seemingly obligatory random thought – I’ve been pondering the nature of these bloggy type things, and moved from the idea of a column to the idea of a letter. But I recently remembered that I originally started this thing as a diary, inspired by my friend Penguin. In one way the whole concept of a diary is pretty odd, especially a ‘public’ one like this, but it is a useful way of recording progress (or lack therefore) towards goals and/or ambitions. I actually greatly rue not keeping a diary when I was younger though, there’s so much I’ve forgotten, and so much that’s confused. I have a sort of time-line type thing, with notes back to 1987 or thereabouts, but I would love to know when I met people, what I was thinking and feeling, as well as exactly when things happened (did I snog anyone at PGL, or didn’t I?). In recent years I have started keeping a spritual journal, which probably only gets a few entires a year, but even that stretches back probably 6 or 7 years now. Tempus Fugit. Anyway, the upshot of all this is that I shall strongly encourage our children to keep diaries – of course I’m not going to force them to do so, but I think they’d thank me for it later on in life.
Well, PGL trekker from 11 years ago’s response was: “I’m sorry – I don’t think I remember you.. Did you have longish black curly hair, and did we sleep together?”. What an awesome response – made my day! (she was joking, by the way.)
We swapped photos, and she did remember me, and we’ve been having a jolly time remembering all the crazy antics – it’s been nice actually. After I sent her a photo, she said “Oh yes – of course I remember you. You’re right, we didn’t sleep together, but I think we did have a drunken snog”!!!
Oh dear, I hope I’m not giving the wrong impression of PGL staff – the cardinal rule was always that wherever you were on site or there were kids (`guests’) around then you were on duty and had to behave accordingly, but after the kids went to bed and we all went down to the pub there wasn’t much else to do but to drink (and snog). I wouldn’t say that the staff slept around, but I think the feeling was that the only differentiating factor of being in a romantic relationship was in its physical expression – nobody had enough money to go out, and so the only place to go out anyway was the pub where everyone went!
I’m not sure she’s right about us snogging – I was very young and innocent then, and far too scared to indulge in that sort of activity… but I did fancy her, it was 11 years ago, and while I never really got drunk, I didn’t entirely avoid alcohol either. (that said I do know for a fact I didn’t sleep with anyone, which is why I can be so certain I didn’t sleep with her!)
There was one particular group leader (called “Sasha”) who was based down the road at Royal Oak, who I fell madly in love with, and wanted to be with forever! She was so gorgeous that I developed a complete mental block over talking to her, and for the entire season I just couldn’t remember her name – it was ok once or twice (“what was your name again?”), but after spending 3 months with the girl and STILL not remembering her name, it got a bit beyond a joke. In the end I took to grabbing the nearest member of staff whenever I saw her and asking “quick – what’s her name?”. They’d look at me pityingly and say “James, you saddo, it’s Sasha”, and I’d run up to her muttering “sasha, sasha, sasha, sasha” so I’d remember it until I said hello. Actually they probably thought it quite sweet that I had such a crush. I did write to her once or twice after the end of the season, but she never wrote back – ahh, unrequited love, such bitersweet sorrow (or something). 🙂
But she was one of these hateful people who are dead drop gorgeous (like breath takingly stunning), great at her job, fun to be with, always nice to people, and generally such sweethearts that you can’t help loving them, even though you actually want to hate them.
Mind you, I was only just 18, fresh out of an all boys school, and .. well need I say more? 🙂
But it is a lovely feeling when you see someone coming, or the phone rings, or a letter arrives, or you walk up to someone’s door, and your heart just leaps up into your throat and you half want to laugh, and half want to cry, and are just exploding with anticipation of seeing her, or whatever. I must admit that getting married and living with someone does diminish the effect somewhat, but I still quite often run down my road on the way home so that I’ll see the missus more quickly, and I just love waking up with her every morning.. Yeah yeah, pass the bucket!! And although I loved all the excitement and angst of courting, I wouldn’t go back now.
