In a Bit of a Tangle.

Ah Disney. Despite being a world ruling corporation, they know how to animate. Ol' Walt revolutionised animation several times. He introduced sound, colour and full length feature animations. It's a famous question: What's your favourite disney film. You'll here classics. Bambi, Snow White, Hercules, Aladin etc. But why those? Because they have a wonderful formula. A great story combined with great and classic songs. For years, older generations have been yearning for a return to old school disney animation. While they have added an extra dimension, Disney have listened to their fans and produced a 3D fairytale that screams classic Disney. That's right. It's Tangled.

After 17 years in a tower, Rapunzel had got good at puppetry.

Innocent and naive Rapunzel has been locked away in a tower by her 'mother' or rather, her kidnapper. You see, Rapunzel's hair can heal so Mother Gothel has trapped her in order to harness the hair's powers to keep herself young. One day, runaway thief Flynn Rider stumbles across the tower and after some debating and fighting witha frying pan, he agrees to take her out of the tower to 'The Floating Lights.' Thus a wild goose chase occurs. Rapunzel's adopted mother is on the search for her, guards are on the search for Flynn, Flynn's buddies are on the search for Flynn and Rapunzel's real parents are still hoping that their lost daughter will return.

The movie, obviously, is aimed primarily at children. But what Disney is particularly good at is creating animated adventures that appeal to everyone. Perhaps even more so with Tangled as it brings back memories of the almost lost Disney family movie. Sometimes it was just the kids laughing, sometimes it was just the adults but what is really crucial here is that everyone enjoyed it. The voice actors were perfect. Not only did their voices really suit the characters but they had real raw talent with their singing. Speaking of the songs, it's nice to see the Disney musical comeback. There's even a horse with personality. It's like the 40s all over again.

Despite the fact they had a saucepan, They were still terrified of the Giant Pancake.

The animation was superb. The animators took such care in this mvie that they made every single hair on Rapunzel's head move individually. That gives you an idea of the attention that these animators provide. You know when that much care and attention has been put into a movie, the animation at least will be stunning. And it is. From Rapunzels eyes to the many rising chinese lanterns. Yes, there have been other decent animated movies by Disney recently such as Bolt (which I will review) but they haven't had that Disney feel. You know what I mean. A genuienly good movie. With such a wonderful story combined with incredible animation. Some new favourite movie quotes are in this movie.

This film is what the later Shreks wished they had've been. Original, funny, and based off a fairy story. There's loads of small references to other Disney princesses (Check Rapunzel's staircase) and that previously mentioned Disney feel makes the whole film seem just that bit better than other animated movies.

Best Bit? I personally loved I've Got A Dream. A song about Thug's dreams. Classic.

Druggie Aliens.

With Edgar Wright as their spearhead, these two actors have already shown the middle finger to the zombie genre, they've wiped their arses with cop movies and now they take on alien movies. Alone. That's right. Simon Pegg and Nick Frost team up without Edgar Wright directing to produce their interpretation of the alien sub-genre.

Two nerds, Graeme (Pegg) and Clive (Frost), go to live their dream. To visit comic-con and then tour famous alien related sites in a giant RV. Normal behaviour for us Brits then? Well maybe not. Especially not when they help cause a car to fly off the road. Being human, they start to call for an ambulance but aren't quite sure what to do when an alien steps out from the wreckage. Well, Clive does. He faints. However, the three start to become good friends. Clive and Graeme decide to help 'Paul' (Seth Rogen) get back to his ship despite the government on his trail. On their way they encounter anti-evolution bible freaks, hunters, and a rather amusing cameo or two. But it's truly a buddy comedy with bonding experiences despite being shot at every now and then.

The driving cover of Bohemian Rhapsody didn't
quite have the same effect as Wayne's World.

The replacement of Edgar Wright with Nick Frost as Pegg's writing partner has some rather noticeable differences. Where Wright brought in witty dialogue, Frost brought in fart and weed jokes. The big comedic difference here is that, while Shaun Of The Dead and Hot Fuzz true British, clever, parody comedy, Paul uses mates humor. Things you may laugh at down at the bar or at a party don't always translate well onto screen. While the silly nature of an old lady sighing, "there goes my pot" may seem humorous at first, you soon realise it was out of place, out of context and completely un-needed. That being said, the movie is hilarious. The fart and weed jokes are outweighed by decent writing with great character work.

Pegg and Frost are in their element as nerds. Who needs to act? Throughout the movie, they remain the same characters. There is no unexplained Epiphany where they decide to become awesome and help aliens. They're just nerds. Rogen's Paul is the main centre for the comedy. His forwardness and almost pathetic invisibility powers are comedy gold. And the entire films comic timing. For example:
"Clive: What if we wake up and find him inserting a probe into our anus?
Graeme: Well apparently they don't do that.
Paul: [Paul wiggles his finger inside the hole of a bagel] Anyone want one of these? Yeah? Anyone?"
At first Seth Rogen's voice seems wrong, and I still don't think he was the right choice, but it grows on you. I kinda just want him to do a role that doesn't involve smoking weed or talking about his own dick.
On the other side of the scale, the 'baddies' are brilliant. The fumbling pair of agents, Haggard (Bill Hader) and O'Reilly, (Joe Lo Truglio) are the real fools of the movie and Jason Bateman throws in a great turn as Agent Zoil. He's serious and funny. Even if he is completely overshadowed by his boss, The Big Guy. (Don't want to ruin this cameo. It made me laugh. A lot.)

There's aliens around here. And that's how Sue Cs it.

A geek's paradise is very similar to this film. It's full of references to every alien movie. From E.T to Alien. Spielberg's voice even makes an appearance on the phone. If you're like me and my friend, you'll find these hidden moments hilarious and laugh aloud in the cinema and everyone else will judge you. And it will be good. The only other film with this many alien references is Planet 51 (which, surprisingly, isn't too bad.) It even has a nerdy soundtrack and particular camera shots echo those from Close Encounters Of The Third Kind. Director Greg Mottola's input on the comedy will ring bells with fans of his other movies such as Superbad. But this is certainly better.

Overall a good film. Not quite Hot Fuzz and Shaun Of The Dead, and certainly not to be confused with the third of that trilogy. But it's still a load of laughs and great to watch with you (nerdy) friends.Best Bit? There's a lot of good bits. One of my favourite lines has to be "Hey fucknuts! Probing time."

News, Updates and Anger

Hi everyone. I'm taking a brief break from my coursework to give you a quick update. I promise, come the weekend, I'll start blogging loads again. Work will be out of the way and I'll have a lot more time.

However, in the world of movies, we have lots of news. Of course, there's always news in the world of film, but there's interesting news. Two interesting movies have come to my attention recently. The first is a sequel to Liam Neeson's Taken. At the moment it is simply called Taken 2. Is it real? If so, I'm very excited. Taken was a fine bit of pointless action and I enjoyed every moment of it. If the sequel is just as badass and awesome, we may see one of the best sequels ever. However, I am curious as to what the plot will be. Surely his daughter isn't foolish enough to get kidnapped twice? Perhaps he just goes crazy and decides to kick some drug dealing, girl stealing, unappealing gangster ass.

The second movie is one that, to me, sounds like the best concept for a while. I mean, Cowboys vs Aliens is a great concept, but does this trump it? It's called Cockneys VS Zombies. I mean come on. A load of bank robbers fighting Zombies? My immediate issue is that I assume people will compare it to Shaun Of The Dead. Despite the incredibly amusing concept, whether the film will be any good or not is yet to be seen. We shall find out next year.

Are you sure nobody has made Cockneys VS Zombies before?

Now let's talk about the year 2013. If the world hasn't ended then we are surely in for an interesting year. Due to two films. Firstly, Monsters University. The prequel to PIXAR's Monsters inc. Now, I'm very interested to see a PIXAR prequel. Toy Story had two sequels and Cars 2 is a sequel, so the very premise is something PIXAR haven't tried before. I love all the characters from Monsters inc and I'd love to see some new ones. Once again, I'm interested what the plot will be. Where will the conflict come from. Surely they can't use a child again?

You may have noticed the title of this post says Anger. And here it is: in 2013, Warner Brothers have proposed that Batman will be rebooted again. A year after the third and final movie from Christopher Nolan. It is in the purpose of having a slightly less realistic Batman for the Justice League, which seems like a stupid movie on its own. Christopher Nolan and Emma Thompson will be producing and looking at evidence of how Nolan is producing Superman, there is still a glimmer of hope for the movie. Despite this glimmer, I want Batman to be left alone. He's had a comedy series, an animated series, a set of movies that were accurate to the comics, a set of movies that were gritty and realistic and now they want to put him in a movie with The Green Lantern and Superman?

I don't want the Justice League. I don't want The Avengers. I want superhero movies to stand by themselves without crossing into other ones. I also want some originality in movies. Stop rebooting Batman, Spiderman, Superman and X-Men and make some new movies.

Like Taken. That movie was awesome.

Talking of Batman, you probably know by know, but the third movie will be called The Dark Knight Rises. Supposedly. Three 'Villains' have been named. Tom Hardy will be super strong, super smart Bane. Joseph Gordon-Levitt will be Alberto Falcone (The main suspect behind the 'holiday killings' in the comics) and Anne Hathaway is Selina Kyle (NOTE: they never say Catwoman. this may or may not be of importance. You know what Christopher Nolan is like.) Many more rumours fly around but that's all we have for now.

A final word from me. I eagerly await news on the Timecrimes American remake. I love the original and expect a huge post about it when they finally release details.

Stick around next week for reviews on:

• Paul


• Tangled


• Unstoppable


• Rebel Without Cause


• Bolt


• Hot Tub Time Machine


• And more :)