Hiphopsideproject

SO we finalllllly went to see Avatar on Sunday, we were hanging on until we could get tickets for the iMax (Imax? is everything that starts with an i meant to be written in the apple standard?) 3D showing. I went in with no expectations, I’d previously thought it’d just been supremely hyped and wasn’t going to be that good. I mean, don’t get me wrong, I saw titanic at the cinema 5 times (yes. I know.), so I knew that Mr. Cameron was capable of some good cinematic shit, but my god the hype surrounding Avatar has been pretty immense.

Straight off the bat I’ll say that the story is weak sauce, not terrible, but not very original. If you’ve seen that Pocahontas story outline with the names changed floating around on the internet then you pretty much get the gist. Luckily the film isn’t really about the story, it’s a giant ‘Look how pretty!’ pissing contest entry that should hopefully pave the way into some beautifully rendered digital effects.

It is stunning, no bones about it. There are points in the film where your concept of digital effects and reality become so warped that you start wondering if they did actually find some random 6 legged dog and put it in mask. The massive fly over shots of Pandora were amazing, just as filler they probably cost more than a regular Hollywood film.

I came out with my expectations gladly beaten around the face.

This is a dog in a suit from TOS, the ones in Avatar were much better.

Oh hey, this is the chick that played Uhura in Trek 11, but blue.

Saw this film yesterday, and to say it lived up to my expectations would be an understatement. I didn’t quite know how this was going to be a Wes Anderson film, though, I originally thought it’d just be a quirky stop-motion film, a little James and the Giant Peachish, but still very much aimed at kids. Oh oh, how wrong I was!

This film couldn’t be anymore Wes Anderson, it was… perfect. The characters, the dialogue, the minor actions… so very Wes. Whilst the story didn’t hold incredibly true to Roald Dahl’s original tale, I’m sure he would have approved (apparently his Widow does), it was quirky and not sugar coated like most kids films. Swear-word replacement throughout the film was the best thing I’ve heard in a long time. “Cluster-cuss”.  Amazing.

Now, the animation. I’ve long, long, long been a stop motion fan, from back in the day when I used to watch Harryhausen films with my Dad, and then, of course, to The Nightmare Before Christmas (if you didn’t know, I have little problem with that film… a huge giant box full of expensive problems), I used to do a lot of my art/design research around various forms of animation.  Whilst I enjoy, and am awed by, modern CGI animation there’s just something about stop motion that makes me gawp. Coraline earlier this year was a great stop-motion, but really it was just a smoother NBC/James and the Giant Peach, with better equipment and skills. Fantastic Mr Fox, however, really held a torch to old-school stop motion.

Yes, you should go see it. It’s a bit strange, and you might not get it, but it was lovely. Also, who thinks it’s ok to take a tiny baby to the cinema? wtf?

We finally got to see Up! at the weekend, in super-hyper-real 3D (Adam put on two pairs of 3D glasses and the world started to bend funny, so he took one pair off). I still can’t believe how long we had to wait for it compared to the US, that was pretty ridiculous.

As usual, pixar did not disappoint, the story is amazingly cute and funny – with the additional ‘real-life’ sadness about it – and the animation was better than ever! I’m not sure about the 3D though, it wasn’t exactly punch-you-in-the-face 3D.. and I didn’t like the fact that my local cinema charged an absurd amount for the privilege (£17.50 for me and the boy, and he’s on student rates too! whut! that’s London prices, most definitely not Yorkshire prices!). I was especially in love with the detailing on the sepia photographs that were in the Adventure Book, looks like they took a loads of care making those look exactly like a real aged photo.. but an aged photo of a pixar scene… ah!

This week I’m looking forward to Fantastic Mr Fox, yes yes. We’re all set to watch Royal Tenenbaums this evening, too. In other news, I’m getting a compost bin, jealous?

Hey guys, I haven’t disappeared off the face of the planet, just been super busy. Let’s see…

On Saturday, after a mad dash to the cinema and being stuck in a huge line of traffic, we went to see (500) Days of Summer. Such a lovely film, even though I came out of it with a severe disliking of Zooey Deschanel’s character >:| The film was shot really well, put together perfectly (it’s not a linear film) and featured the delectable Zooey wearing some super pretty outfits (she seemed to wear blue throughout the film).

blue, blue. High-waisted skirts, trousers and shorts matched with tailored wispy shirts featured heavily.

A particularly nice dress by Marc Jacobs (currently in a competition at ASOS).

Sunday held another trip to the cinema, this time to see a film I’ve been looking forward to for quite a while – District 9. Set in Johannesburg, and dealing with issues of immigration and xenophobia through allegory of Aliens stranded on Earth, this film follows the story of Winkus Va De Meer and his exposure to some alien technology. I don’t think I’ve seen another alien film like this before, the ‘real-life’ness of it and the way the story’s told is amazing. Not for the squeeeemish though, the worst part for me (naymind the blowing up of heads and exploding of bodies) was a scene where Winkus lost some of his fingernails. I have a ridiculous fingernail phobia. Gah!

In other news, I dyed my hair a dark brown for Autumn/Winter, I think it’s much better. Has a slightly red tint to it, too. Homemade chai lattes are the in thing at my house right now, so much cheaper than buying them from the coffee shop. We almost have a complete bathroom, the flooring went down over the weekend and my Dad’s been spending the past couple of days putting the sink in. Our electrician’s coming around next week so we’ll finally have hot water! and a working shower! Oh, god, it’s gunna be amazing. I’ll update with something more substantial later this week. Keep well x

As a kid of the 80s I had the honour of being brought up to some of the best films ever made. Films were a pretty major part of my childhood, in all honesty, I would watch my video tapes over and over until the betamax ate them. Birthdays involved a trip to the cinema (and there were always good films out at my birthday, all the Christmas releases), summer holidays were always punctuated with parental-stress-relieving cinema visits, and the Sunday family matinee on ITV was a weekend highlight.

There are films that really stick out in my memory, ones that I’ve gone on to buy on DVD in my 20s and that resonate my childhood like no others. The majority of these films, including Home Alone, Beethoven, Curly sue,  and Uncle Buck, were written by John Hughes. I missed the boat on Breakfast club and Sixteen candles by a few years, but saw them later on and still felt that childhood delight. John Hughes died yesterday from a heart attack, his films will always mean so much to me and they’re the films that I can watch over and over again without getting bored. I feel sorry for the kids of the 00s, they’ll never know how to fend off intruders with paint cans and old movies, be best friends with a giant, slobbery dog, or how to deal with teenage crushes and growing up.