Burlesque

Love it – it’s that simple!

Its taken me  while to get round to watching the dvd – there’s always something in the way – and I can’t believe it’s taken me this long to watch it.

This is a proper small-town girl makes it big film – but with some awesome track – and I can’t get enough of it!

The music is amazing – I knew that anyway as I have the album – but this is a whole different ball-game! Christina sounds – and looks – amazing, not that I’m ever so slightly jealous or anything!

Its not even finished it and I’m already thinking about watching it again!

X-Men Origins – Wolverine

I liked the original X-Men trilogy, but I wasn’t that bothered when X-Men Origins – Wolverine was released. OK so Wolverine is a pretty cool character, but I didn’t really think a film about just him would be my cup of tea – especially when we’d learned a fair bit about the character and how he got his claws throughout the trilogy.

However, I was wrong this is quite a good film. I just wish I hadn’t waited to see this on Blu-ray – it would have been awesome in the cinema.

At the very beginning we learn how when the young Jimmy Logan got angry his bones would protrude through the skin. After running away with his half brother, Victor, you see the pair grow and fight their way through many wars until they get recruited for a special operation.

After a while, Logan becomes disillusioned and leaves to get a normal job and set up a normal home with a beautiful woman. But being Hollywood things are never that simple.

I won’t spoil it and tell you what happens, but us a great watch and we see a young Scott (aka Cyclops) and Professor Xavier, and appearances from Dermot Monaghan (of hobbit and Lost fame) and Will.I.am from the Black Eyed Peas.

This was a great film, and I’m glad watched it in the end! Hugh Jackman was great as Wolverine, and there are even rumours that there might be a Wolverine 2…can’t wait!

Ice Age 3; Dawn of the Dinosaurs

I’m just a big kid at heart and having seen the first two Ice Age films I was naturally excited at the prospect of a third. I had to wait until Christmas to see it though – there was no way I was going to sit in a cinema full of kids watching it!

It’s the usual kid-flick – boy and girl mammoth are having a baby, sloth finds eggs and become ‘mother’ to baby dinosaurs, sloth gets pulled into the underground world of dinosaurs and his friends have to go rescue him, meeting a few new characters along the way.

But that’s not the best bit – even my favourite character Scrat has a love interest and their constant battle provides some of the more entertaining scenes of the film.

This is a great family film and one I’m sure I’ll enjoy watching over and over again with my niece and nephew, but surely this has to be the last one? How many more can they do? Mind you, a Scrat spin-off would be pretty awesome…

Transformers; Revenge of the Fallen

There are two words to describe Transformers; Revenge of the Fallen: absolutely awesome!

It’s always a tough task to create a sequel, especially when the first installment was so well received, but director Michael Bay achieved the impossible and created another awesome film.

Shia LeBeouf is back as Sam, who is leaving for college attempting to live a normal life. Megan Fox returns as Mikaela, Sam’s girlfriend who’s working with her dad in a bike art shop. Before Sam leaves for college, he finds a piece of the All Spark, and all hell breaks loose both in the kitchen as the utensils come alive, and in Sam’s head as he starts having visions of Cybertronian symbols.

The Decepticons are still on Earth, searching for the location on the remaining pieces of the All Spark in order to resurrect Megatron. Once achieved, Megatron returns to his master, the Fallen, one of the original Transformers who plans to harvest the sun for energy using an ancient weapon.

Once again, it’s up to Sam and The Autobots to save the world from the evil Decepitcons once again.

Its nice to see Bay bought back many of the original cast members, as we saw many of the army personnel from the first film making up the new NEST team and Agent Simmons from Sector 7 returns too. Sam’s parents are also back, with his mum bringing a laugh or two to the otherwise serious film.

Among the new faces are Leo, Sam’s new room-mate at college, as well as new Autobots; the Twins, Mudflap and Skids, and Arcee, the three motorcycles.

This is an awesome film, and well worth seeing on the big screen. You won’t be disappointed, and it looks likely that we’ll be looking forward to the third installment in another two years!

Angels & Demons

I’ve been waiting for Angels & Demons since I saw the brief 10 second clip on The Da Vinci Code dvd, the novel was better and I had high expectations for the film – I couldn’t wait to get to the cinema…

Tom Hanks returns as Harvard Professor, Robert Langdon, who is called on by the Catholic Church to unravel the mystery surrounding the disappearance of the Preferati, four cardinals, the favourites to succeed the recently deceased pope.

At Vatican City, Langdon meets Vittoria Vetra, a scientist whose partner was murdered after they created antimatter, the God particle which potentially explains the creation of the universe. The antimatter was stolen shortly after creation and has the potential to destroy the Vatican.

They become entangled in a race against time, and across Rome to save the Preferati and the Catholic Church from destruction from their ‘ancient enemy’ The Illuminati.

To do justice to a book as great as Angels & Demons was always going to be hard, and although Ron Howard tried his best, the film would never match Dan Brown’s text.  Hanks puts in another good performance as Langdon, and although it was nice to see Ewan McGregor back on the big screen, the Scotman’s Irish accent left something to be desired.

I think people were divide on The Da Vinci Code – a bit like Marmite – you either loved or hated it!  If you hated it, I wouldn’t go to the cinema to see Angels & Demons, but I’d consider renting the dvd when it comes out.  It was a good film, and definitely worth a watch, and although it didn’t cut anything too important to the story, it did omit a few things I was looking forward to seeing on the big screen.  My husband enjoyed all the visual puzzle solving in The Da Vinci Code, and was quite disappointed it wasn’t continued in Angels & Demons.

Dan Brown is about to release his third novel featuring Robert Langdon, The Lost Symbol, which I can’t wait for, but I’ll be in two minds about going to see the film if Howard takes it on.