9 (2009)

This film is based on the short film of the same name released in 2005. 9 is a stitch punk rag doll who awakens in a post apocolyptic, his scientist creator has died and 9 is alone. Humanity has been overrun by its scientific and mechanical advances and their creations run riot amongst the stark remnants. The humans are gone and stitch punks are alone to deal with the machines that caused the death of humanity.

Directed by Shane Acker and produced by Tim Burton and Timur Bekmambetov I had big expectations and they delivered. This film is amazing. The CG is incredible, the story is brilliant, the voice acting is excellent, they paid attention to the details. Its probably ok for kids over 13 years old as it it quite dark and could be scary for younger children.

(Edited from Wiki) This film made clever use of viral marketing. In April 2009, the movie’s “Scientist” began making journal entries on a Facebook page called “9 Scientist”. Daily thoughts and images of his inventions are updated frequently. The “9 Scientist” Facebook page seemingly references events leading up to the release of the movie 9.

Most recently, a new viral campaign promotional website for 9 has been launched. It sheds some light upon the background of the 9 world.

Sanctuary (2008)

The Premise: A giant spooky ass looking castle in a wharf district in America somewhere, houses spooktacular creatures under human guard. Sounds interesting right? Sadly the premise didn’t really deliver the goods.

The premise was interesting, all things x-files get to live in a wacky castle on a wharf somewhere in America some guarded to protect themselves from humans and others locked up to protect humans. It could have been a great show but sadly it wasn’t. It was c grade to say the least the acting was appalling, the characters 2d and not gripping, interesting, intriguing etc or anything else that would make you want to watch it. The CG was interesting the backgrounds and building were pretty cool so I guess it was just the plot, script, lines, delivery of the lines by the bad actors, lousy acting etc that made it suck.

It was yawny, slow and boring. Definitely not recomended. The end of the episode was in sight but we got bored and put something else on instead. Probably a ‘Chuck’ episode we’d already seen 50 times. So yeah yawnsville.

It was based on some webisodes that were released and paid for by viewers so i’m wondering if maybe thats worth watching? Who knows this version certainly wasn’t. If I had to put it in a class or closest comparable show – it’d be right up there with Dr Who (SARCASM SIGN).

G-Force (2009)

What a rollercoaster ride! Kah-ray-zee!

So it could just be me (and most probably is) but I was stressed out of my brain. I have two guinea pigs Mila and Sooki and I was worried for those movie piggies. Bing (see his work on you tube) is a steady fave of mine. Whenever the day is blue, I youtube bing. His dancing and singing makes everything feel like a bowl of sunshine. But I digress. Of course the film is adorable, cute, funny, overamped, entertainment for the kiddies.

Five minutes in, my brain went… hang on a sec… there’s something different about this. So after some consultation I ascertained it was Jerry Bruckheimers latest offering which explains the difference. The quality of this is amazing. The cinematography, the angles, the views, the strong themes in Jerrys work recur in this (friends pulling together to solve a problem etc.), the characters are so believable, there are a few cheap laughs (ooh a guinea pig farting super funny for the kidlets) but these are underplayed.

The film doesn’t rely on the cheap humour, there are funny things to entertain the kids but the script, the themes and the characters are solid. The characters are treated with respect by Bruckheimer, the child viewers are treated with respect, the script plays up to them, not down to them and is not insulting. There’s no innuendo to entertain the parents because its not necessary. The film is so well done, its funny, clever and entertaining in its own right.

I was stressed out of my brain i’ve watched since The Bourne Identity! At least during this I could drink and eat. I had a whole box of popcorn at the start of The Bourne Identity and a whole box at the end. So like I was saying it was stressful – there’s a lot of close calls for these tiny piggie heroes, sensitive kids might find it stressful like I did but for anyone whos older then 10 or not a freak like me, they’ll laugh their asses off!

Fine piggie viewing.

Sooki and Mila gave it 4 fingers up (they have no thumbs) so thats like a 10 out of 10. They’re also waiting for Hurley and Buster respectively to call. I’m really not sure how to approach this with them.

Arthur and The Invisibles

Gorgeous film!  The kid really is cute and worth watching and not the kind of American ‘cute child’ that tends to make you gag.  Maybe the trick is to use English kids, think ‘Millions’.  The performances are all solid, but Freddie Highmore as Arthur and Mia Farrow as Granny are amazing to watch, either one of them has scene stealing potential in every scene they’re in.  The animation is gorgeous and the colours are fantastic.  The story is magical and endearing, the characters are fun and not silly or insulting.  This is a kids movie worth watching.

Beowulf

Hmm definitely not what I expected, I went in thinking it was a film with CG not that the whole thing was CG.  The story was nothing special so its pretty much down to the CG.

The CG was amazing at times though sadly not consistent.  Sometimes it looked almost real, and other times it looked like a cartoon.  This feeling of real vs cartoon tends to jerk you in and out of the film, forcing you to reconnect each time.  The CG of Angelina Jolie was brilliant she looked real until she emerged fully from the water covered in gold and with a tail.  They couldn’t get Robin Wright Penn to look right and she looked odd the whole film.  It wasn’t terrible and I did enjoy it but there’s not really a lot to write home about.