Stop Releasing Dark Knight Rises Spoilers

Right i'm getting Fed up of clicking on the Total Film website and seeing the words "Dark Knight Rises Spoilers" the film hasnt even been released yet, but theres still thousands of spoilers been released online everyday. Todays offering reveals the opening of the film. I am been good and havnt looked at any yet as i'm looking forward to going to see the film when it comes out seeing the suprises that lay await for me as i did with The Dark Knight, i hadnt seen Batman Begins before hand. Christopher Nolan is pretty good at bringing suprises in his film which means i want to know as little as possible about the film and its plot before i go to the cinemas in July (or June cant remember off the top of my head) Please Please Please stop espcially on websites i thought were trustable and not just fan sights!!



Review: True Grit

True Grit (2011)

Directors Ethan and Joel Coen

Now this year i've tried to make sure that i've seen all 10 of the Oscar nominees for Best Pictures and True Grit makes number 9! And for me True Grit definatly deserves it's place on the list of nomenee's. Hailee Steinfeld is the breakout star of the film not putting a foot wrong in her performance very impressive for a 15 year old making her film debut, in what should be a very promising and succesfull career. Westerns have never really appealed to me as a genre but True Grit managed to keep me not only interested but slighty hooked. Jeff Bridges (Iron Man, Tron Legacy) puts in a good performance, although nothing to show me why he recieved an Oscar the previous year and this performance earned him another nomination when there were several better performances last year but then again all i do during award season is complain so i ain't going to stop now :P If i'm honest not a film i was looking forward to but ended up enjoying and for me that is a sign of a pretty damn good film

7 out of 10



Review: Brothers

Brothers (2010)

Director Jim Sheridan

Ok first things first - IMDb people 7.2 seriously!? Its not often i disagree with there ratings but in this case i feel they are been seriously generous with their reviews! This film is dull and Tobey Maguire (Spider-Man) is seriosly terrible in the film with a completely unemotional (until the final scene when he is overally so) and unconnectable with throughout the entire run. Jake Gyllehaal (Donnie Darko, The Day After Tomorrow) and Natalie Portman (Star Wars, Black Swan) are reasonable in the film yet the only characters i could find any connection or that i cared about were the daughters of Maguire and Portman's characters, one of whoem is Bailee Madison the little girl who stole the show in Just Go With It. Maybe the reason the film fails to connect with me yet seems to have been well recieved in America, lets face it they control the film world! is that it is a very American film. I'm not saying that is a bad thing but it is harder to connect for a foreign audience as are some of our films for an American audience.

2 out of 10



Review: The Fighter

The Fighter (2011)

Director David O Russell

One of the big award contendors during the last award season, The Fighter would enevitably be a let down after all the hype but thankfully its not too much of a let down! Central to the films sucess is a superb performance from Christian Bale (Batman Begins, The Dark Knight) which fully deserves his Oscar for best supporting actor. Infact the acting in the film is by far the films saving grace is the performances, otherwise the film coulds of spiralled into insignificance. Mark Wahlberg (Planet of the Apes, The Lovely Bones) allows Bale to have his moments in the spotlight with a reserved leading man performance and Amy Adams (Enchanted, Night At The Museum 2) proves she can actually act and stand up against some of the bigger serious actors around. The problem with the film is in general the story holds no interest for me which is a shame but it still managed to hold my attention throughout the film which is too its credit but it still has done nothing to convince me that the boxing movie is one i should be watching.

6 out of 10

Review: Dorian Gray

Dorian Gray (2009)

Director Oliver Parker

So i didn't know too much about this film before i watched it and after watching the film i can see why :/ It says something for the quality of the film when Colin Firth (Love Actually, The King's Speech) is in it and it still didnt get much coverage. The only previous knowledge of the character i had was from his role in The League of Extroadonary Gentlemen. Ben Barnes (Stardust, The Cronicles of Narnia Series) is quite forgettable as the leading man, capturing neither the likeable or unlikable aspects of the character. The plot seems to go nowhere as well and is very poor at letting the audience know what is happening or why. There no or little explanation for how Mr Gray and his portrait became soo close. To be honest theres no explantion for anything that happens in the film and even Colin Firth manages to be unmemerable, and thats saying something!!

2 out 10

Pictures Seem To Be Dieing

Ok so i've been looking down my blog and it seems that some of my links for pictures have broken, the same seems to be true of the upcoming Harry Potter post. Now i will fix this in a few weeks when i go home because the uni internet is pretty shit so not sure if its just my internet :P

Also will explain i havn't done much this weekend so i may have accidently watched 4 films which may be about to get reviewed if i can be bothered :)

Toudles

International Transfers = WTF

Now recently i read an article from the guardian which reported that Cristiano Ronaldo could be about to be bought by the Spanish National team in order to help relieve Portugal of some of the finacial pressure that it has been under recently. Now i'm someone that believes its wrong to have a foreign manager in charge of a national team, espically one which has a huge backlog of good managers cough Capello at England cough, so how do you think i feel about players been able to play for another country? Its a disgrace!! Ok so the rule that you can play for a country if descendants can be proved is a reasonable idea but someone who has played multiple times for his country changing teams is a disgrace!! Football is already been ruined by money but now they plan to change the national teams so anyone can play for them its terrible!! I've never like Ronaldo but if he does this he will be even lower down in my estimations. International football is meant to be about national pride and what pride would Ronaldo have playing for Spain, their Portugals main rivals :/ Why not replace international football and just replace it with leagues playing each other. At least England might win something then ...

Review: Easy A

Easy A (2010)

Director Will Gluck

Ok so i didn't mean to do this but the next film i watched has happend to be Will Glucks 2nd film as a director, after Fired Up, and it is somewhat of an improvement. Emma Stone (Superbad, Zombieland) stars as a self aware high school student who goes from nothing to the talk of the film after a vert naughty lie, ending with her having a reputation as the school slut. Gluck seems to have learnt from Fired Up that you need laughs all the way through a comedy but the film does benefit from a much better cast with stand out performances from Stanly Tucci (Devil Wears Prada, The Lovely Bones) and Amanda Byrnes (She's The Man) as a bitchey church person. I must say that this isnt the first time that i've seen Easy A and it still manages to make me laugh in patches but the problem is there is no stand out scenes in the film so you come out of it feeling that you perhaps been short changed in terms of (i dont want to use this term but i shall) Lol'ing :/ Still the heart of the film is Emma Stones superb performance which has pretty much cememnted her a leading lady material and showing her to be the potential new top girl in Hollywood!!

6 out of 10



An Actual Nice Football Story

Now i realise that i'm always bitching about football and footballers, its one of the main parts of been a fan!! But this story is one of the most amazing stories i have ever heard and it dosnt just matter that its about my club - if any club did this (Even god for bit Newcastle United) I would be singing their praises

Gary Parkinson played for Middlesbrough between 1986 and 1993, where he played alongside current boro boss Tony Mowbray in the defence. He then moved on by 2010 was working as a youth coach for Blackpool when he suffered a horrific stroke that left him completely paralised. Now over a year laster Parkinson is only able to communicate via eye movement and blinks yet he has just accepted a new job as Middlesbrough Scout, Mowbray will send tapes to Parky of potential transfer targets and will then let his wife no what he thinks with a series blinks. If thats not amazing i dont no what is!!!

Review: Fired Up

Fired Up (2009)

Director: Will Gluck

Ok I didn't want to start with been negative but geuss what? I'm going to be Negative! I'm going to sound really shallow but the way i found out about this film and kinda the reason i wanted to watch it was the mixture of Sarah Roemer (Disturbia, The Event) and Heather Morris (Glee). Turns out Morris has a none speaking role in two scenes which is a shame because Fired Up could really do with her particular brand of comic style or at least some comic style ... The problem is the film is sold as a Teen Comedy bringing to mind images of American Pie and Fired Up is more Band Camp than the orgional. Infact Fired Up mays well be called Band Camp part 2 :/ Roemer herself has gone well down hill since her last outing in Disturbia, where she was at least a slightly memorable love interest, the problem is that is all she is a love interest, not even a character just an object of lust. Unfortunatly i cannot fully critise the film as the finale leaves you wondering what could of been, helped with an Avril Lavigne soundtrack to go with it! However you know you've just watched a bad comedy when only one quote comes to mind just minutes after you've watched it :/

3 out of 10

Something Is Coming

Now as some of you might know that Friday 2nd December is a very special day!! Well to mark the release of the FINAL installment of the Harry Potter franchise to the home entertainment market this blog will (hopefully) be marking the occassion with a special tribute to the series that has dominated my childhood and ends as i myself am supposed to be coming a man!! pfft. Anway i am begining work on it now so things may go a bit dry on the posts front for a while but please accept i am a uni student and have work to be do aswell as this blog!! I hope to bring you everything i can on the date in question so please be patient!!



Mangers Or Footballers - Who Should Be Paid More?

Right i think we all know that Football is not a fair game and there are lots more jobs that should earn the money footballers are paid but for the purpose of this arguement lets forget that anything other then Football exists - i know what a terrible world that would be :O

So lets look at this from the point of view of football as a job. Players go in and train for around 3 hours in the morning and then go home and do what they want - like tweet about every little thing in the world and pretend they actually know what the fuck their talking about not mentioning anynames, Rio Fedinand or Joey Barton. They then go into work on the Saturday or Sunday now with all this sky TV coverage they work for 45 minutes then have a 15 minute break and maybe play for the next 45 minutes :/ And for all that work the average top divison player will get a 5 or 6 figure pay check at the end of the week!!

In Contrast to this Managers get paid, well i dont actually know how much they get paid but judging by Football Manager not nearly as much as players, yet they spent most of the week actually working and trying to make sure that the players are fully prepared for their long long long Saturday afternoon's work!! I mean in any normal job i'm pretty sure the manager gets paid more then his employee's! Am i rigght? So how can clubs expect to stop situtations like the recent Carlos Tevez scandal, which i feel i have already made myself very clear about so won't go into, if the players are paid more then the person telling them what to do!? Its a stupid world out there!!

Of course all this is irrelvant when you look at the real world picture were nurse, firemen, policemen and even bankers are so underpayed!! Hang on i feel i made a mistake there :/ oh well :P

A New Idea For Mr Blog

Right i've been thinking cos only 1 person as far as im aware reads this blog i think i'm going to use it to improve my film reviewing skills as well as intending to improve this persons film knowledge =) I will say now i happen to watch alot of films in my line of 'work' so don't expect me to review every film i've ever seen or every film i watch and don't expect every post to be a review cos i know the main reason why you read this blog is too see me rant and quite frankly its my way to let of steam or it has been the last few days!! Right for all you kneeanderfalls (i cant spell it so i just spelt what i heard) this is how a rating system works. Each film will get a mark out of 10 - i tried to do stars but the stars were all been wankers and would only stay toghether so fuck the stars! and this is how the ratings tally:

1 - Stay away from this film at all costs!!

2 - Very Poor

3 - Poor

4 - Disappointing

5 - Average

6 - Above Average but not quite good

7 - Good

8 - Very Good

9 - Brilliant

10 - You must go strightout and watch/get this film no matter what!!

In the course of creating the ratings i though a traffic light system would be a pretty nifty (eek not a cool word is it, infact dont know why i used it but most leave it in now cos of course theres no way to deleate things on a computer) so RED is effectivly bad, ORANGE is average, GREEN is goooood and BLUE is OMG!!!!! This film is the best thing to ever happen!! So just thought you should no that i decided to do this - also if by some mircale you actually like my reviews i will put a label on everyone (if i remember) saying reviews so if you want you can read them all at once =)

Cho

Why The Hunger Games?

Ok so it’s the next day and I still have this random idea of doing a blog. Maybe I’m just finally unleashing my true inner geek!! So anyway as I may have already mentioned the film adaptation of The Hunger Games is coming out in March – not sure what day though as I’m currently on a train and meant to be working which means no internet :/ Firstly I will say that I only started reading the books because I’d heard of the film and thought it sounded quite good – not just because I’m in love with Jennifer Lawrence though ;) and then one day we ended up in a book shop and I was bored and picked up a copy of the first book, which was in a 3 for 2 deal and seen as my mum and dad were both getting a book each I decided I wanted one cos I’m so cool like that!

Anyway within days I was obsessed with the book I finished it in 5 days and then had to wait another week until the next two books were delivered!! =( And then when they did arrive I spent the next 4 days locked in my room reading – something I’ve not done since Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows!! It’s kinda hard to say what I like about the books I think the main thing is there different too anything else I’ve ever read considering how dark and brutal they are. Which is what should make them such an awesome film (fingers crossed)

So the director choice is a bit of a different choice but maybe its good that they arnt going for a director known for explosions and action sequences, after all in these films especially you need character development!! And early signs are the studio are confident the film will succeed having already confirmed a release date for Catching Fire (All I’ll say about that is Naya Riviera for the role Johnanna!!) Anyway looking at the trailer, which was lovely to see didn’t ruin any of the films surprises and plot points, THANK THE LORD!! The film should live up to the books although I admit it will be very unlikely to be better than the books!! On a side note I just found a hole in my shoe damn!!

Right where was I? If I’m honest the cast for the film is pretty impressive – Katniss is almost a perfect match the role Lawrence played so well in Winter’s Bone so that should wrap up the main role but the supporting cast looks pretty good. Woody Harrelsson seems to be taking Haymitch down a different road to what most of the fans expected but whatever he does tends to be good so we shall be. Elizabeth Banks was good in role models but other then that I’m unfamiliar with her work but she should fit in well. Donald Sutherland is great casting for the villainous president snow and the role may give him a bit more to offer then he recent appearences as ill-fated old mentors. And Stanly Tucci is a great fit for the ‘chat show host’ (I’m so sorry I cant remember the character name NAUGHTY TIM!!)

Now to the problems the films will face. Firstly is the comparrisons to Twilight =’( Yeah there is a love triangle but that is a minor part of the first books story so we can hopefully avoid the team peeta or team gale wars for now …. The casting of Josh Hutching and Liam Hemingsworth suggest they are trying to start a twilight esk sort of war but for me the films are more like the next Harry Potters simply because something actually happens in these books!! The other problem I can forsee is that Gary Ross is aiming for the film to be a 12 or the American equivalent meaning that the film may miss out the books more violent and disturbing scenes but hopefully it can still get some sense of the books violence and tension.

But overall I am this excited!! Ok so you cant see my this excited geusture but I’ll try and put a good video below to show how excited I am or my reaction to the trailer =) Bring on March 2012!!!!!

Top 10 Greatest Film Endings

Top 10 Greatest Film Endings on Prezi

Stop Making Films For 3D

As i mentioned earlier i do not have a problem with 3D - i have the problem with films been made or re-relaesed for the soul purpose that they are in 3D and that can make the studios a little bit of money!!

A prime example:

The sad thing is when films like Titanic and Star Wars are re-released i'll probably end up going to see them again just for the experience, playing right into the studios hands!! Damn me and my stupid Brain!! What can i say i'm a sucker for the 'next big thing'. But films like 3D concert films take things to far as do films like Piranhna 3D and Drive Angry 3D yet people still flock to see them becuase their 3D. If filmmakers started concentrating on making films for the reasons they used to not just for the way of making money!! Although i confess that i shouldnt compalin as i'm part of the problem but hey its my blog i can do what i want XD

Ewoks: Whats Wrong With Them?

You know what some Star Wars fans annoy me!! Don't even get me started on the fans that are having a hissey fit about little changes to the Star Wars Blu-Rays and even read one description that decribed George Lucas as 'the anti-christ' :P WITHOUT HIM YOU WOULDNT HAVE STAR WARS YOU TWIT!!! and he is at liberty to change his own films there his films!!

But thats not the point of this post!! My problem is with the fact that the Ewoks are always getting stick from fans and critics alike!! Whats wrong with them? I personally love them. Return of the Jedi is actually mt favorite Star Wars film and the Ewoks are an intergeral part of that. I mean look how cool they are. I can understand views on Jar-Jar Binks although as The Phantom Menace was my first film i still hold a soft spot in my heart, but the Ewoks were harmless and without them we wouldn't have one of the most well known mini actors of all time: Warrick Davies. So please just lay off the poor little buggers!? They did help defeat the Empire afterall!!

One Thing I Forgot

Just realised that thus far i havn't mentioned a very important part of my life :P I do tend to waste my life playing Football Manager 2012. Infact over the years i have wasted my life on many football manager computor games and LMA Manager for the PS2. I will say i'm a bad loser so i tend to play as all the premierleague teams - i could also be seen as a control freak. As you can imagine over the years me and my friend have found several players who have turned into stars so lets see how many you regonise out of my best signings :P

I'm Sorry But You Should Know My Guilty Pleasures

I think now would be a good time to explain that i do like alot of things i really shouldn't. I will explain i'm not gay (not that that matters)  but i do like things that sterotypically stright men shouldn't like but i do so who cares :P

First of all i will say (and i'm sorry MG) at the moment i am kinda obsessed with Glee. I've not always liked it infact i used to be someone who acted as if they were too cool for something like that but if i'm honest i'm not :P The thing with Glee is it sorta pulls you in and after that you can't escape and me liking it is proof of what a long summer can do to you!! Heres a little clip to show you why i like it:

Another one of my guilty pleasures is Mean Girls. But then again alot of people do love that film and its kinda the chick flick that guys like. I could go on but it would get boring so i think i may make a bit of a collage of posters of my guilty pleasures =D

Carlos Tevez: The Worst Thing To Happen To English Football??

Lets face it theres a lot wrong with Football at the moment but in my opinion the biggest problem with the English game is this man:



What an attractive guy right?

But seriously what is wrong with this man? He's paid 100,000's of pounds a week yet he still refuses to play and spent the rest of his time complaining about something!! Yes he is talented but he has a serious attitude problem and i cannot wait till he is shipped out of the premier league (not that hes in England at the moment) Most people work for a hell of a lot less then he does and yes they do compalin about their jobs but they do not refuse to do their jobs and then have a go at their bosses for saying their attitude stinks.

Theres even examples in the Football world. Doncaster Striker Billy Sharp on £10,000 a week and played against my club Middlesbrough 3 days after his son died and still found the energy to score a goal. That man is a pure hero and could have been forgiven for never wanting to play Football ever again. Billy Sharp is the sort of footballer that should be playing at the top level not a fraud like Tevez who thinks he can do what he wants when he wants and still get paid. I don't normally use this word but Carlos Tevez is a Wanker!!

Cheer Up Boro Fans!!

Right today Middlesbrough drew 2-2 with Blackpool to stay 3rd in the Championship. It is true that we should of won the game as he bossed it and Matthew Gilks (probably the best keeper in the Championship) made several amazing saves and we missed some sitters. On the way home we listened to the BBC Tees phone in and i couldnt believe how negative fans were been!! Most we're acting as if we had some god given right to be in the Premier League cos we had a good spell a few years ago. Most seemed to be forgetting that this time a year ago we were in the Championship relegation zone and that most of our players are the same as we had then!! Yes we have had a good start but its not the end of the world if we dont go up this year infact its not the end of the world if we dont get in the play-offs anything this year is a miracle given what Tony Mowbray has had to do this summer, yet he has created a very well run club with a good team spirt which is incredible but dont go saying its a disaster if we go up when there are so many good teams in the league this year with resoureces we can only dream about!! Other then that we were unlucky today but still i would have taken a point this morning and i am happy with one now although 3 is always nice :P Lets keep hoping we keep this up but if not still stand by the club and espically Mowbray who is the best thing thats happend to this club since Steve Gibson!! Long live the King!!

Coming Attractions!!

Right as this is going to be a blog that i imagine mostly focus's on films i though i'd give a list of the films i am looking forward to in 2012 =D Where i can i will give you a little trailer aswell so its not just me talking

1. The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey

Right like most people i've been waiting for this film for about 8 years since Return of the King was released. Quite frankly The Lord of the Rings are 3 of the best films i've ever seen and hopefully The Hobbit will live up to that. I think thats all you need to say

2. The Hunger Games

This is probably the film i will be talking about the most, if i do ever use this!! I'm a massive fan of the books and read them twice in the summer, so i can geuss that i'm going to hate the film as so many book to film adaptations are soo shit its unbelievable but looking at the trailer theres a alight chance that this may actually work. Plus the cast for the film is pretty good, espically Jennifer Lawrence who i'm pretty much in love with and should be immense as Katniss as its very simliar to the role that won her an Oscar nomination for Winter's Bone!! I'm going to try not be one of these fans who complains about every little thing that the film does wrong - i understand its never going to be the same and not everything will be as i imagined it to be, for example Woody Harrelssons Haymitch (you'll get to no i cant spell reading this blog) is nothing like i imagined him but im not going to rant until i see how it works :P To sum up bring on March!!

3. The Dark Knight Rises

Any other year and this film would be the biggest film of the year for me, espically after The Dark Knight, and that just shows how good 2012 SHOULD be!! Anyway back to the film which judging from everything i've heard - and i've tried to avoid all the spoilers that have been put online. The cast is amazing, as with the previous 2 films and Chris Nolan always seems to bring it. So nice to have a blockbuster that wont be simply been sold as been a 3D spectacular as the films isnt in 3D, thank god!!, not that i dont like 3D it is pretty good but i'm fed up of films been made and advertised purely because of 3D e.g. Glee the 3D concert movie =/

4. American Pie: The Reunion

So its not for everyone but American Pie was sort of a key part of my teenage years in terms of films and i have been hoping for 1 reunion film to come along after the back log of stright to DVD sequels. So glad they got everybody back! it wouldnt have been worth doing if someone was missing. I will say now that at this moment i hope that they only make this film and dont make it into a new series (although if it makes money i fear they will and i will still pay my money to see it cos my will powers not that strong) The other bit i cant wait for in this film is the soundtrack which is always awesome for the films, for example for a week after seeing the trailer i didnt stop listening to Last Night by Good Charlotte (the song on the trailer if you didnt geuss :P)

5. The Muppets Movie

So i meant to put the Avengers in 5th but the marketing for the Muppets has great simply been one of the best campaigns i've ever seen - even though it is quite immature but i like that cos i'm sad like that. So if i'm honest just watch all the trailers and see what i mean :) Jason Segal and Amy Adams should make the film actually good and looking at the list of cameros there should be enough to keep me entertained!!

Hello

So where do you start on this thing?

I should point out theres only one person i'm telling about this cos its kinda embarrashing so keep ya big gob shut!!

I know its called so ... life but i dont really have a life =] Hense i have a blog to randomly worble off about stuff on, mostly films, tv or football i imagine but i may sometimes go adventurus and talk about the real world =O

So enjoy!!