Toy Story 3

I meant to do a stitching update today, as you can see, that didn't happen, so I'll try to do it either tomorrow or Monday instead. However, after an aborted attempt at going to see the A-Team (can you believe out local cinema already stopped playing it?) we went to see Toy Story instead, so I thought I'd do a review on that instead.

It has most of the cast that we'd expect from the old films, Woody, Buzz Lightyear, Jessie, Rex etc but also introduces some new characters, such as Lotso and Ken.

Andy has now grown up and is going away to college, consequently he's packing up his room and the toys are terrified of being thrown away. Woody is put in a box to go to college with Andy (you can't help thinking that this will eventually result in some Grade A bullying) and the other toys are put in a bag to be put in the attic, but there is a mix up and they end up on the pavement waiting for the bin men to come and collect them. Woody, sees the mistake and goes to rescue them, but they won't believe that it was a mistake and think that Andy was deliberately throwing them away and so stow away in a box for a day care centre. The toys excitedly watch children playing with the other toys and can't wait until it is their turn, this is a new chance for them to be played with again and the day care centre seems like a haven, but all is not as it seems.

We know the vocal talent is going to be good on this, Tom Hanks, Joan Cusack  and Tim Allen reprise their roles as the heroes, along with all the original cast, except Jim Varney as Slinky Dog who sadly died in 2000 and has been replaced by Blake Clark. We also see (hear?)  Ned Beatty, Michael Keaton and Whoopi Goldberg take on new characters and roles in this film. The plot as you can see from the summary isn't exactly complicated, but then I'm a 25 year old sat in a cinema where the average age is about 15 years younger than me, so I possibly shouldn't be surprised by that (the guy selling us the tickets actually mocked us, but that's by the by). But it's enough of a plot to hold the film together, it doesn't just feel like it's tying several set pieces together.

For me personally it took a long time for the humour to kick in (if I'm honest I thought the funniest bits were all in the last half hour), but those around me, including my other half were laughing all the way through, so I'm willing to accept that that was possibly just me. And there are some good moments, Mr Potato Head in different guises is very good. This is also, in places, actually quite creepy, look out for the screaming monkey, it wouldn't surpirse me at all if I had nightmares about that monkey tonight. And there are some sad bits, there's a real tear jerker towards the end of the film, there was definite sobbing and nose blowing behind me, and I'll admit that I had a lump in my throat, and the final scene before the credits, I actually thought was even sadder, but there was less sobbing during that.

It's nice to see the film grow up with it's audience. I was about 11 when the first film came out, so it's not that long since I had to go through my old toys and decide what I was going to do with them (and yes, I still have a lot of my teddies), so it's kinda cool to see the little boy I remember when I was a kid going through the same things himself. To the adults this is a story about growing up and leaving your childhood behind you, to the kids it's a good adventure with some funny bits. Either way it is a good film and I did enjoy it thoroughly, I probably won't bother to buy it when it comes out, but then I don't own the first two, so that's probably not surprising. It made me laugh, it made me feel sad and it creeped me out in a major way, not bad for a kids film.

And I'd just like to finish by saying 'The Claaaawwww'

Well, they always were my favourite character!

Tim Burton's Alice In Wonderland

Forgot to say, Ben and I went to see Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland in 3D last Friday and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

I'll start with the 3D then go onto the film, this is the first time I've seen a film in 3D so I can't compare it to other films but, I thought that it was a bit hit and miss. Sometimes it worked perfectly, generally if something was in the middle of the screen and coming towards you, then it came out clearly and was amazing. At one point there were some kids on the front row trying to grab hold of something as it 'came out of' the screen. Other times, generally when something went across the screen, or when it was half on screen it didn't work, because it spoiled the image where it suddenly stopped. Overall though, quite impressed and think that when it's been perfected it'll probably be quite amazing.

So, onto the film itself, if you've read the books (Both in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass) then you could, quite happily, pull the plot to pieces, however, if you sit and watch it as an entertaining film that's loosely based on the works of Lewis Carroll, then that's not a problem. No, the Red Queen should not be the same as the Queen of Hearts, yes, in Jabberwocky the slayer is most definitely male, but if you can let that slide then it doesn't matter.

The film starts with a flash back to Alice as a child having bad dreams about Wonderland then moves forward to (her) present day at about 18 where she's going to a garden party only to find that the son of the family holding it is going to propose to her in a very public manner, Alice panics and runs away before falling down the rabbit hole into Wonderland. This turns into the beginning of the book, 'eat me', 'drink me', but with voices talking about her as she does, then goes into Wonderland.

Wonderland is pretty typical Burton fair, weird, wonderful and really quite dark. Really impressive cast, all doing a very good job (although I did wince a little at Barbara Windsor as the dormouse, why would you do that?). Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter are old hands at Burton films and it shows, they look incredibly comfortable in their surroundings. Helena Bonham Carter is wonderful psychotic as the Queen of Hearts/Red Queen, with occasional flashes of Queenie out of Blackadder, but she's wonderful in the role and has been made to look quite freaky through it. Depp of course has been one of the main publicity calls of the film, and he was very good as the Mad Hatter ranging between comic craziness, terrifying madness and the occasional moment of heart breaking terror when he comes out of the madness long enough to realise that he is mad, he slides between this different emotions with consummate ease, and it's easy to see why he has been pushed to the fore for the publicity, this is a starring role. Matt Lucas does a wonderful turn as Tweedledum and Tweedledee, arguing with himself all along and I personally have to give kudos to Anne Hathaway. I haven't seen much publicity around her role as the White Queen but I have to say that I thought she was brilliant, she has these wonderful 'airy fairy' affectations that she puts on as the public face of the white queen, but as soon as there's no one looking she pick up her skirts and runs. As for Mia Wasikowska as Alice, I feel a bit guilty, as I don't really know what to say about her. She does hold the piece together as the one that the action revolves around, and she gives a  good performance in this role, but she pales into significance when placed next to the larger than life characters around her. That said, she has some wonderful scenes with Depp as the Mad Hatter who has the decency to not upstage her in some of his more 'emotional' scenes where she comforts him in the realisation of his madness.

All in all I did really enjoy it, and have gone around telling people that they should go and see it, and I will be getting it on dvd when it comes out, as I would like to own it, even without the magic 3D effects. It's a cast list that just roles on and on, and I can't mention all, although everyone does give a sterling effort (again, I'm possibly questioning Barbara Windsor a little bit, but apart from that). But I can only finish this review as I've been saying to the girls I share an office with, it's really good, you should go and see it!

The Taking of Pelham 123

I have to say that I wasn't really sure about this, it seemed to be lacking pretty much anything, plot, acting, competent dialogue, anything that you really look for in a film. Safe to say that I wasn't really impressed by it.
Denzel Washington plays Walter Garber, a controller of the subway when one of the trains is high-jacked by Ryder (John Travolta) and other. Unsurprisingly the 'others' don't take much part in the proceedings, serving as canon fodder and people to be ordered about by Travolta. In fact, Washington and Travolta are really the only characters in the entire film, everyone else is just plot and space filling, allowing for the fact that it would be difficult to have an hour and a half (and believe me, it feels longer) film with only two people in it.
Ryder and others hi-jack a subway train and demand $10 million within the hour or they'll start killing hostages, and yes the hostages include a mother a son, a young man with a pretty girlfriend who is elsewhere, an idiot business man and a hero, and all play their parts just as you would expect them to.
Before they realise that a hi-jack has happened, and instead think that there has been a malfunction on the train Walter Garber tries to contact the driver, thus bringing himself to the attention to Ryder and thus becoming that only man that Ryder will deal with.
As money is rushed across the city (by quite possibly the most incompetent police escort ever seen) Walter Garber is given a crash course in hostage negotiation by the only other character in the film who has more than five lines to himself, the real police hostage negotiation that Ryder refuses to deal with.
Ryder then declares that the money must be delivered to him by Walter Garber and then Garber is pulled in to the events while he and 'others' try to escape with the money. So, how will it end? See if you can work it out?
There's nothing new or interesting in the script, it's all very predictable, and the script is incredibly uninspired.

As it's probably apparent I really wasn't impressed by it, nothing really stands out in my mind as a positive point about it.