Superman Returns

I thought I'd already put a review up for this, but clearly not; Proof perhaps that I'm finally starting to lose my marbles.

I wasn't going to see this film as it looked a bit gay, but then I saw the trailer where Superman is shot in the eye and thought I'd give it a chance. The last time I was blown away by an effect in a movie was in T2 years ago.

The film has Superman and Clarke Kent both returning back to Metropolis after a 5 year absence (why no-one noticed the coincidence, I don't know). Lex Luthor (played very well by Kevin Spacey) finds Superman's icey abode and a recording of the late Marlon Brando that reveals Superman's weakness (the sort of thing you would leave lying around of course).

He then devises a plot to build a new continent out of Kryptonite where he can take over the world without red pant man interfering. Of course Superman finds a way around this and saves the day, just as all Superheroes do.

The film is actually alright. Brandon Routh does at times look like Christopher Reeve (without the wheelchair) so I guess he's done OK. Kate Bosworth doesn't really pull off Lois Lane that well, perhaps because I spent the movie trying to decide whether she was nicer as a blonde or a brunette. Its Spacey that steals the camera though, which is hardly a surprise.

I also chose to see this at the IMAX in Waterloo and it as well as having a super large screen, some of the scenes were shown in 3D, which was pretty cool.

Another case of Big Brother?

It could be nothing more than a security measure but its an interesting article. I have a $20 bill left over from my holiday that I'm contemplating zapping, just out of curiousity.

RFID Tags in New US Notes Explode When You Try to Microwave Them

What'll happen to Peter Crouch now?

Looks like there's still plenty of opportunity outside the England football team should he not be picked next time around.

Blue Man Group

I had seen Blue Man Group before in 2002 at Las Vegas. They now have a show in London and I had been umming and ahhing about going again for weeks. With a night off of support on Thursday I thought I'd be spontaneous and go along.

For those that haven't seen them its hard to describe what they do without belittling their act but it is definitely worth seeing just because it is so different. Not much of it had changed since the last time I'd seen them but it didn't matter, as it was all good. There aren't many shows that insist on the front rows wearing ponchos. A taster of how mad this show gets.

They're best described as a percussionist trio who incorporate audio visual tricks into their acts. You've never seen anyone catch marshmallows as well as one of the troop, who doesn't even have time to swallow them before the next one is thrown his way. They make music from plumbing and also have routines with TVs for heads. See I said it wouldn't sound that impressive.

The finale sequence, which I'm not going to spoil here, completely blew me away, exactly as it did the last time I saw it. The music had changed this time however from KLF's "Last Train to Transcentral" to Donna Summer's "I Feel Love" but it didn't matter. Everyone left the venue with the same look of euphoria on their faces as I remember last time.

Its definitely worth seeing, if you are looking for things to do in London. I'm seriously considering going again.

Another stick man animation

This one is really clever involving a fight in the Flash application deviantART

StreetWars

I think this looks like a lot of fun. As a fan of Flashmobs its good to see stuff like this going on. Alas I think I live too far out of the battlezone to take park, but I'm checking just in case.

StreetWars: A 3 week long, 24/7, watergun assassination tournament

Inspired Lyrics

Not safe for work and unlikely to be played on the radio anytime soon.YouTube - Fuck the shit

Pirates of the Caribbean Dead Man's Chest

Another of the big Summer blockbusters and part two in the Disney-Ride-Now-A-Movie trilogy (excluding Haunted Mansion).

Depp, Bloom and Knightly (sounds like a solicitor's firm) are back for more hi-jinx on the high sea. In this lengthy episode all three dupe each other to obtain a key to the legendary Davy Jones Locker, alas not a place to keep his clothes dry whilst he goes swimming but a little chest buried on an island in the middle of the ocean.

Depp camps it up as he did in the first film, Knightly plays the boyish heroine quite well and Orlando Bloom sucks for the majority of the film. In fact he only seems watchable when he has a sword in his hand making the most of his traning from Lord of the Rings. If they want a better performance out him in the third movie they should give him pointy ears and a bow.

The set pieces are ridiculous yet entertaining. Whever dreamt up the fruit kebab pole vault sequence must have been on something at the time. A fight on a rolling wheel is also funny but absurd.

The ending does end on a slight cliffhanger, but we're not talking about the end of Lost or anything as bad as that. It does also nicely introduce a character from the first film to lead us into the third, a nice touch that brings the trilogy together.

Another 2 minutes?

Well today was the 1 year anniversary of the London bombings and being the puppets to the Government and Media that we all are we had to give up two minutes of our time to think about those that died.

Firstly I don't like to be told what to do like this. Secondly the people who died, as unfortunate as it was, were not known to me nor to anyone I know. They were just in the wrong place at the wrong time and being blown up does not make them heroes or worthy of my time. Why should I think about people I don't know?

I have no problem putting aside a couple of minutes when the cause warrants it e.g. those that died for their country during two World Wars but these little media exercises dilute the genuine moments of reflection such as those.

This started to annoy me last year when someone decided that Ken Bigley was entitled to as much time as the World War commemoration. This man ignored Foreign Office advice in pursuit of quick monetary gain and ended up dead, and because of that he deserves a moment of my time? Not a chance. The same is true of the London bombings.

Why celebrate the one day that the terrorists got one over us? We never did this in the 80s when the IRA was launching its terror campaign on the mainland; we just moved on and returned to our lives to show that their actions did not affect us.

The Evening Standard ran a headline today "Commuters defy bombers". How sensationalist is that? I doubt anyone woke up and thought "I'm going to work today to show the bombers that I'm not scared". I think you'll find that most commuters went to work because they had to.

So how did I spend my two minutes today? On the toilet. In Spain they recently gave five minutes to victims of a train crash caused by a driver exceeding the limit. If we start spending that much time here I'm going to have to take a paper into the toilet with me.

Banlieue 13 (District 13)

Time to get back into the routine of seeing movies now that I'm back from the US.
This French flick is set in the future and tells of an area of Paris segregated from the rest of the city by a huge wall. Within that wall crime is rife and a man framed by a corrupt police force is partnered up with an elite cop to find and defuse a bomb that will mean an end to them all.

The plot is tosh to be honest but the action sequences more than make up for it. Mixing martial arts with parkour, or freerunning as its more commonly known the director has managed to put together a film with plenty of pace that can leave you breathless, and that's just from watching it.

If you like your action and can handle subtitles then you'll enjoy this.

I'm back!

Just a quick post because I know I've not put anything up here in a while.
America was a great trip and when I find the time I'm currently going through the pictures for my report.
Expect to have something up here in a couple of weeks.