Last movie watched...

[Frank]

My personal feeling on the movie is that it skirts awfully close to just being a sequence of things that happen, incomprehensibly in places, and relies too much on the audience to piece it all together. It tries to show more than it tells, and any time you mess with that balance in a narrative, you court disaster

Never watch Blow Up.

[Professor Bear]

An example would be that Mima's agent supposedly had a failed career herself, which influences her attitude towards Mima. I didn't pick up on that at all.

Not every example of the Western equivalent - the pushy showbiz mum - is explained in detail in the context of every single narrative in which it appears because most of the time we are assumed to "get" our cultural archetypes without needing their deal spelled out, but you aren't the first to butt heads with the peculiarities of Perfect Blue's Japan-centric storytelling, as a lot of critical evaluation in the west revolves around the supposed Hitchcock stylings rather than the more obvious (and admitted) Kurosawa influence.

[shaolin_monkey]

I watched Frozen with my girls tonight. Quite good I suppose. The girls adore it, as the whole sisterly love thing appeals to them, when they're not doing roundhouse kicks to each other's faces, that is.

They missed a trick with the 3D. It seemed to lack depth, which was a shame given all the lovely panorama's.

People have said its a return to form for Disney. While I enjoyed it, it's no Jungle Book.

[HdE]

Not every example of the Western equivalent - the pushy showbiz mum - is explained in detail in the context of every single narrative in which it appears because most of the time we are assumed to "get" our cultural archetypes without needing their deal spelled out, but you aren't the first to butt heads with the peculiarities of Perfect Blue's Japan-centric storytelling, as a lot of critical evaluation in the west revolves around the supposed Hitchcock stylings rather than the more obvious (and admitted) Kurosawa influence.

I like this post. You make a good point about cultural relevance. Although, I'm till inclined to believe that the 'missing information' I'm complaining about could have been harmlessly included.

[Hawkmumbler]

I watched Frozen with my girls tonight. Quite good I suppose. The girls adore it, as the whole sisterly love thing appeals to them, when they're not doing roundhouse kicks to each other's faces, that is.

They missed a trick with the 3D. It seemed to lack depth, which was a shame given all the lovely panorama's.

People have said its a return to form for Disney. While I enjoyed it, it's no Jungle Book.

Did anyone pick up on the lazy recycling of Elsa and Annas character model, not only for themselves fbut for their mother. £150million well spent, and yet it's still held aloft.

Bah, anyway, i've bitched about how much Frozen sucks before now, so i'll talk Edge of Tomorrow.

It was very good. And if your not familiar with the source material like I am then you'll probably enjoy it more. Cruise acquits himself well (I refuse to jump on the Cruise hat bandwagon simply due to his faith. It's not my place to question what he believes or how he throws his money at it) as does the lovely Emily Blunt, who is pretty damn freaky as Rita Vrataski, a good call for one of the best sci-fi heroins in a film since Anderson.

The diversions from the novel are quite a few, but I feel they where reasonable. Certainly it made watching/reading the same story for a third time more refreshing. Though my one concern was with the mimics. There design was BORING! It's the same thing we've seen in Attack the Block, Super 8, the upcoming Monsters sequel. It just further illustrates how much better at designing beasties Japan is than the west.

But that, really, is my only criticism, and even then it's undercut by how much I enjoyed the schizophrenic movement of the mimics, and the effects are PHENOMENAL in this. Certainly one worth checking out for fans of All You Need is Kill and uninitiated alike.

[Daveycandlish]

It's 25 years since Tim Burton launched his Batman movie on the world - time for a rewatch, methinks. Still better than the Nolan Batmans (and the Joel Schumacher sequels) but not as good as Adam West in the cowl.

[Hoagy]

Odd Thomas, 80's 90's comedy horror intellect with 21st century double decade of game changing cg effects. Bit Frighteners really.

[Keef Monkey]

Glad your review of Edge Of Tomorrow is positive Hawkmonger, I read the book on a recent holiday and loved it so hoping for a good movie. Before I came across the book I wasn't at all interested in it, I think because the title is horribly generic. Maybe it's just me, but I find Edge Of Tomorrow an incredibly bland name for a movie, and the sort of thing I'd expect to see printed on a Seagal movie on the bargain shelf in Tesco. It doesn't inspire! Now All You Need Is Kill on the other hand, that's a title.

Oh, and I loved Perfect Blue. And Odd Thomas (although it rattles through things very quickly, but being a massive fan of the book I was always going to find a quibble somewhere). Stormy is very, very attractive (I know we're not supposed to say things like that anymore).

[Hoagy]

I found out it was based on the book at the end credits. A wise choice in my view. As a movie I'd agree the pacing would have been dampened by the comparison.

[ThryllSeekyr]

Glad your review of Edge Of Tomorrow is positive Hawkmonger, I read the book on a recent holiday and loved it so hoping for a good movie. Before I came across the book I wasn't at all interested in it, I think because the title is horribly generic. Maybe it's just me, but I find Edge Of Tomorrow an incredibly bland name for a movie, and the sort of thing I'd expect to see printed on a Seagal movie on the bargain shelf in Tesco. It doesn't inspire! Now All You Need Is Kill on the other hand, that's a title.

Emily Blunt doesn't look so hot (Not as much as she was in Wind-Chill.) in the trailers I've seen for this and the film itself does look a little silly, but I may end seeing it eventually.

[Eric Plumrose]

Emily Blunt doesn't look so hot

Nor's yo' mama.

[JOE SOAP]

Emily Blunt doesn't look so hot (Not as much as she was in Wind-Chill.)

Tom Cruise ain't my type but it wouldn't stop me seeing it.

[SmallBlueThing]

The Frankenstein Theory- A "found footage-y" type thing, by the makers of The Last Exorcism, that manages to be both entertaining and nowhere near as good as their previous flick. Young mad-scientist bloke who has been kicked out of university seeks to prove his long-held belief (and entire raison d'etre) that Mary Shelley's novel was in fact a fictionalised version of his ancestors' doings. To do this, he hires a film crew and heads off to the Arctic circle to track down the creature, which he believes is still alive.

Carnage ensues.

Quite good for much of its run, with some beautiful snowy Canadian photography and a likeable cast, the stitches come out and it falls apart at the end. But, y'know (I feel I may have said this before) if you like found-footage horrors, this is one of the better ones. It scored massively for me because it was set in the snow and had a monster in it. I'm easily pleased where snow and monsters are concerned.

Zoolander- I refuse to believe anyone hasn't seen this, or doesn't love it unreservedly as I do. It's one of my "happy films". Stiller is a genius when paired with Owen Wilson, and I wish he'd spend more time making stuff like this and the Meet the Parents series, and less mucking about with Ricky fucking Gervais and museums. If anyone disagrees, be warned I am currently doing "Blue Steel" at them.

SBT

[Professor Bear]

Emily Blunt doesn't look so hot (Not as much as she was in Wind-Chill.)

I was on the fence about this, but now I don't think I'll bother.

[von Boom]

Zoolander- I refuse to believe anyone hasn't seen this, or doesn't love it unreservedly as I do. It's one of my "happy films". Stiller is a genius when paired with Owen Wilson, and I wish he'd spend more time making stuff like this and the Meet the Parents series, and less mucking about with Ricky fucking Gervais and museums. If anyone disagrees, be warned I am currently doing "Blue Steel" at them.

SBT

Yeah, Zoolander is great. Now I need to watch it again.