FILM: THE WOLVERINE

Superhero films are all the rage these days and, after a rather shifty start with the original Spiderman trilogy with Tobey Maguire and then a series of lacklustre releases, it seemed that itwas all a flash in the pan. Even the great Superman only made a small dint in our interest as he returned after the Christopher Reeve hey-day. Batman, which was the most eciting release before that in the 90's was even struggling with the follow ups - and apart from a PVC clad Michelle Pfeiffer as Catwoman, the others were going down hill. Let's not mention Batman and Robin eh?.

But that all changed with the X Men franchise, and then Iron Man and now it's non stop for the Marvel juggernaut (no pun intended).  It seems that Marvel are rather fabulous at casting right now - Downey Jr as Iron Man is perfect, and Thor and Ruffalo as the Hulk/Banner was amazing casting. And so too is Hugh Jackman as Wolverine. No one else could do that the way he does.

This film is again based around Wolverine's adventures and takes place in present day just after X Men 3. Wolverine was in a bit of bother back in World war 2 but saves one of his captor's lives when a bomb goes off - but you've probably seen that bit in the trailer. The upshot of it all is that the dude who he saved wnats to thank Wolverine for what he has done all those years ago and give him the gift of mortality - which Wolverine takes as him wanting to kill him.

However, Wolverine declines that exclusive offer, and, as Mr Japanese fella bites it, Wolverine finds himself embroiled in a situation involving the Japanese dude's family and some sinister mutanty scientist woman with bad breath. The upshot of it all is an action packed, martial arts samurai style movie with plenty of action and a decent paced storyline.  Jackman is awesome as Wolverine but I still think he is not a strong enough charater to stand on his own as say Iron man. Still it's not a bad movie and at least a city stays intact for a change.!

BOTTOM LINE: Better than the first one, but a nice starter before the main course that is X-Men: DAys of Future Past.

RATING: 7/10 (stay for end credits - there's a little something extra for the crowd)

FILM: TWILIGHT: ECLIPSE

FILM: TWILIGHT: ECLIPSE

Twilight - what is all the fuss about?  Yes, this is the penultimate film as there were only ever four books penned, but from a male point of view this is really a love story scattered with watered down action scenes. The action and special effects are good when they happen. But what happens? Well the vampires are getting wind of some new blood vampires who are planning to cause chaos and the question is who is behind it? That redhead Vittoria (or is it Victoria - they never pronounce it clearly enough) seems to be the mastermind behind it all - but is she?  It is gonna take a battle of some magnitude to find out - and that means an alliance between the warewolves and the vampires.  Meanwhile the three way love-battle between warewolf Jacob, vampire sparkly boy Edward and the rather caught in the middle Bella is getting ever more deep. But let's be honest - it's all about the love triangle between Bella, Edward and Jacob.

The love story in the film is so tightly woven that the characters personalities are quite believeable.  The uneasey alliance between Edward and Jacob show's an adult's mutual respect for the protection of Bella, but I don't know why someone doesn't just wade in there to tell her to stop leading both men on. I think that Edward comes across as a bit immature and jealous sometimes, and graceful, romantic and loyal others. Jacobs self absorbed - "you want me we should be together" stance is a bit forceful, and in my mind is no wonder Bella wants to get with Edward.  The plot thickens and moves on - which is better than the last movie as I felt it just didn't go anywhere.

Thsi film though is well worth the wait for Twilight fans and good enough as a film for those who aren't. Some of the dialogue is sharp and witty - there are two scenes in particular that stand out and both feature the three main characters. The acting by teh supporting cast was top notch and I have to say in the debate of which team are you one - Edward or Jacob - I'm firmly in Team Alice!

BOTTOM LINE: A worthy addition to the insanely popular vampire saga - better than the second but not as good as the first.

RATING: 8/10

FILM: DEATH AT A FUNERAL

I sadly haven't seen many movies recently - but my most recent one was this one....

FILM: DEATH AT A FUNERAL

Comedian Chris Rock and Martin Lawrence (you know the guy from Bad Boys) are two brothers who are organising their fathers funeral. Well I say they are, but it comes down to Chris Rock to getting the family together and organising the whole thing. Comedy ensues as one of Rock's cousins has been dealing in funky pills and the cousins sister (played by the lovely Zoe Saldana from Avatar and Star Trek) gives one to her boyfriend when he is feeling off colour - and ends up being high for most of the film. This is where most of the humour comes in - but it's when the cousin loses the pills and other people take them thinking they are Valium that the who thing degenerates into sketch after sketch. Rock does well to keep the thing going and is supported be a cast of actors who are well established in Hollywood - such as Luke Owen and Danny Glover as the grumpy uncle.  A spanner is thrown into the works when they find out that their father was having a homosexual affair with a white person who has dwarfism.

It's all a very crazy hotch potch of comedic characters and is funny enough to keep your attention for the whole of the movie. Apparently this was based on a British film which didn't do too well - but nevertheless they always say the best way to handle death is with humour and they certainly do.  It can't have been as memorable as I wished though, as to be honest, I cannot recall any of the names of the characters!

BOTTOM LINE: A serious life event injected with humour from the myriad of characters present. Some great Hollywood talent there to keep the laughs coming - good but not great.

RATING: 7/10

FILM: IRON MAN 2

I started this bLog for reviews of everything and so far, with the exception of my recent observation on politics haven't done any!  Well let's get the ball rolling. Here's my review...

FILM: IRON MAN 2

Starting pretty much straight after the last one, after Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) announces that he is IRON MAN it seems that he is on cloud nine and is doing really well for himself. Starting a rather nifty Stark Expo that runs for a year and, according to Pepper (Gwyneth Paltrow), it will also drain the finances of Stark Industries.  It's a needless folly but the public like it. Meanest of whiles, an evil is brewing from all sides.  The army want the Iron Man suit to use as a waepon.  Stark's competiton, Hammer Industries, want to develop similar suits but fail miserably.  And, a disgruntled son of Starks father's work colleague (Mickey Rourke) decides to have a crack at taking Iron Man down. For the lads, theres a rather nubile Natalie (Scarlett Johansson) working with Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) to try and convince Stark that there's a bigger game to play than the one he thinks he is involved in.

Tony Stark is finding that the power he gets from that thing in his chest (you can tell I'm very accurate here can't you?) is killing him, so a side part of the film is his quest to try to save his own life as well as that of others.  He also has some great lines - and on his birthday he dresses up in his Iron Man suit and answers the most question he gets asked from people - how do you go to the toilet in the suit?

Add a sprinkling of War Machine (Ironman's colleague) and a rocking soundtrack from AC/DC I think you get very much a good bang for your buck. Robert Downey Jr is one of may favourite actors and his portrayal of Tony Stark is spot on - he's a bit arrogant but a bit witty but has his heart in the right place. Scarlett Johansson plays a really sexy part in the film and can kick ass as no one else can, and the remaining characters help the story along.

There is always that problem of the difficult second movie.  But retaining the original cast, moving on from what was developed in the first film and the immediately likeable Tony Stark - this film is fantastic and I'm sure there will be another sequel. There have been a lot of questionable Marvel films out - but this is totally in line with X-men and Spiderman blockbuster standard.

BOTTOM LINE:  Brilliant movie, if you like action or comic book movies it's a must see.

RATING:  9/10

Oh and as an addition - I really think you should sit through the credits... they may be a surprise at the end... ;-)

Election 2010

Hi guys

I'm of the opinion that the Election in 2010 is one of the most relevant in recent years. I mean after seeing the Conservatives and Labour fighting toe-to-toe for votes for years, it is interesting to see that the Liberal Democrats are standing up alongside them. I'm really gonna be watching over the next week or so into what is going on.  I read just the other day the manifesto's of those 'big three' are outselling JK Rowling's Harry Potter books!

I've always thought politics a waste of time - just people in suits arguing over things and not really getting anywhere. I think the time has come to change politics - as the younger generation are taking note of these televised debates - which although are interesting and quite enjoyable - some of the questions from the audience are completely irrelevant.  The politicians of the '10's can take politics to the next level - and I hope they do.  It was only last election which we had a poor turn out and all the analysts in suits were scratching their heads why no one wanted to vote.

Either way I am looking forward to this election - and to look forward to voting for the first time in my adult life...

That's my opinion - but what do you guys think?

Keep safe

Paul 

Welcome to The Foxton Files

Well guys I've finally done it haven't I?  Being the most underwhelmed person in the whole world over social networking I've plumped for a bLog.  Finally.  Well this is what I'm gonna do. I'm gonna start keeping a bLog if I can.

My life is busy and full of all sorts of adventures and, in a way, I'm offering to bring you with me.

For you it'll be a story, with characters and emotion. For me it will be my life. Everything I write here will have happened.

I apologise in advance if I offend anyone - not that I will deliberately try to. Sometimes I may be angry, sometimes loving, sometimes surreal - but always me.

Well, this is MY life... in review... for you.

If you wanna know what I think of a restaurant, a movie, a song, an album, a holiday, a company or anything else for that matter - it will be here.  I see a lot of movies and listen to a lot of music - so if you like that sort of stuff you will probably quite enjoy this bLog.

Even so I hope you all enjoy what I have to say. Feel free to leave feedback and put your own tuppence worth in if you want - I'll respect your views and would love to hear what you thought of a movie or a song. 

Anyway, it is now time for me to anon, as Shakespeare would say.

Keep safe

Paul