Petulant children, pod-racing, planet-hopping science fiction...sound familiar? No, this is not a discussion on the celluloid-suicide that was The Phantom Menace but something rather more surprising. A contemporary animated series that pushes the boundaries of the art form (even if it doesn"t push the boundaries of story-telling).
The last few years have seen a spate of great next-generation animated vehicles grace our screens, from the motion-captured beauty of Skyland to the exhilarating escapades of Galactik Football. Both series combined traditional 2-D, 3-D and G elements to fuse a new style of action that at first glance merits more than a small screen audience. Unfortunately, although both shows have subsequently found limited releases in France and Spain, they are yet to schedule or announce an English language release. Which leaves the sterling Oban Star-racers to take the deserved plaudits.
The 26-episode story follows the exploits of Molly, a young girl who escapes the confines of her boarding school to search for her father. Through a series of misadventures Molly finds herself recruited to the Earth team as they commence preparations for the toughest intergalactic competition of their lives - the Great Race of Oban. What follows is a sprawling tale of friendship, hardship and ship-to-ship battling. Molly and the Earth team uncover deceitful plots, survive incredible bouts of hardcore racing action, and bond over shared successes and failures.
The strength of this show however (for I can hear your eyebrow raising dear readers) was never going to be hung from the biceps of it"s story, but rather on the courage of it"s creator, Savin Yeatman-Eiffel, and his artistic vision. Unhappy with the opportunities offered by potential investors, Yeatman-Eiffel set up his own company and spent nine years building Oban Star-Racers into the show he"d envisaged...and that show is beautiful!
Although 2-D animation is predominant throughout and all characters are rendered this way, the action sequences are blended with 3-D vehicles and environment to superb effect. The direction here is immaculate; camera angles, and intense story-boarding have been united to superb effect and increase the tension and excitement then-fold, while palette selection, sound effect and design bring a unique stylistic edge to an often hackneyed genre. The results get better and better with each 22 minute instalment.
This show won"t be everyone"s tastes. It is, after all, still animated, and aimed largely at a younger audience. For those who are interested in spending some diverting hours engrossed in a fun show that wears it"s creative heart on it"s sleeve, I urge you to invest in the Oban series. If you ARE still looking for some form of higher qualification then perhaps the knowledge that Oban was nominated in the 2007 BAFTA awards for animation will help. Either way, the future of cartoons is looking brighter by the day.
It is undoubtably the funniest and most original film i have even seen. Heder is an absolute classic. the catchphrases will live on forever and ever....u fat lard. the characters are uniquely brilliant in their own way. Without a doubt a must see blockbuster of a movie. considering it was an independent low budget shot, it was flawless. it had me and my frineds in stiches and it still does. side-splittingly funny. you must buy it!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The best show on TV! Well on DVD now! This is based on the American dream, transfered into the world of politics and what would happen would the 'good guys' be running the show, however with all of the realism of current America (and the world). All this crammed with the best all round cast ever, there are no bad characters. By the time you have finished watching this not only will you love them all and want happiness for them all, but you will want to watch it straight form the start again as soon as you have finished.
Four college friends organise a car-share to drive out to the coast for a big party but on the highway there is something waiting for them. A monster - half ghost, half corporeal, all evil. Is it Death itself? Whatever it is, it moves quickly and quietly and it wants to chop them up in a rather nasty manner and most probably eat their flesh.
The cast of unknowns make a decent job of things but they don"t have a lot to do apart from one guy who is blind. The rest just do the normal let"s drink beer and get-it-on student thing, which let"s be honest isn"t Oscar winning material.
The direction is okay. There are moments of tension but surprisingly no actual surprises or shocks which was a bit weird. But on the other hand perhaps it"s to the director"s credit that he doesn"t just rely on jumps and bumps to scare the audience as most teen flicks do. There is however plenty of gore, guts and blood. The production is also better than the low profile of the film would perhaps suggest.
It"s not the most riveting film and frankly you might not even bother watching it until the conclusion, but if you do you will be treated to the best part of the film - a rather clever twist ending. Apart from that however, it"s basically just another stalk-and-slash horror movie.
Reeker doesn"t quite stink of putrefying flesh, but it still smells pretty bad.
2/4
The Number 23 is Joel Schumacher's glossily-produced yet dark thriller about murder and the weirdness of numerology.
Since moving into films such as The Truman Show and The Majestic as well as the fantastic biopic of the life of Andy Kaufman - Man on the Moon, Jim Carrey has been delighting me with his straight performances, usually as an every-man character. In The Number 23 he sports a shock of floppy brown hair - a similar look to his Joel Barrish character from Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind - looking as harmless as a puppy.
Walter Sparrow is a dogcatcher by profession, married with a teenage son and a family man, he"s an all-round nice guy. But when he gets a birthday gift from his wife (Virginia Madsen) - a novel called The Number 23, written by the oddly named Topsy Kretts (Top Secrets?) he finds just a few too many coincidences between his own life and that of the novel"s main character.
There are segments of film that are sort of a film-within-a-film. They"re sections of mock-film-noir and they"re excellent. As Walter plays the part of the private eye searching to find a murderer. Hair slicked back and looking every bit the greasy private dick, Carrey must have relished the chance to inhabit two characters in one film.
And it really is Carrey"s film, rarely is he off camera and he does a fine job. It makes you wonder why he doesn"t make more films (he"s only starred in about 12 films in the past ten years). Personally I"d like to see more of him, but you have to say he"s chosen most of his projects very sensibly and The Number 23, whilst not being his best, is not bad.
Starring Mark McManus(1935-1994)aka Taggart,as Sam,Michael Goodliffe (1914-1976) as Grandad,with Tom Conti, Jim Norton, Simon Rouse, Windsor Davies, Jan Harvey,and many more famous faces.
The series traces the history of a Yorkshire mining family from the 1930s-1960s,with all their trials and tribulations,births, deaths ,marriages ,happiness and sadness.
It centres on Sam from a boy to a grown man, and his family.
The acting is superb especially from Michael Goodliffe and Mark McManus, I cannot recommend this series enough,it has to be one of the best TV productions of the last 30 years,why it has never been rerun on TV is a mystery.
For anyone who wants a wonderful,superbly written (by John Finch) and acted set this is it
This excellent and under rated 1970s TV series of Sam was a Granada production and was shown over 3 years 1973,74,75.
This wonderful series is in 3 parts,on DVD, each part has 6 DVDs and 2 episodes on each.
Though it's true to say that Disney, Pixar and other computer-animated studios now dominate the battle for the eager eyes and minds of children at the cinema, few of their offerings present as rich and as heart-warming a story as Warner's The Iron Giant.
Based loosely on a work from Ted Hughes of poet laureate fame, the tale is set during the early days of the Cold War. A mixture of excitement and paranoia, heightened by the first soviet forays into space with Sputnik, are kept in perfect balance by the innocent discovery of a crash-landed-giant-robot by Hogarth, a young boy.
As the boy indulges in his fantasies of playing space-cadet with the ultimate playfriend, the giant receieves an education in black and white, literally through the eyes of a child - and there is something to be said for that.
There are many light hearted moments. From the introduction of the robot to the comic-character of Superman- an alien visitor fighting for good on Earth, to attempts to hide the giant from the investigations of a trigger-happy government agent. Indeed, as the awesome capabilities of the giant become apparent, this "shoot first and ask questions later" mentality provides the vehicle for the message central to the story's heart wrenching finale, extolling the virtues of self-determination, of choice, and of free will. It will give children and adults alike a taste of the bitterness of loss, and the sweetness of hope.
We are left knowing that it is not what we are born or in the case of the giant, what we are created - but our choices that define us. In the words of the boy, Hogarth, "You are who you choose to be...".
This is a lovingly recorded version of the groundbreaking RSC production of 1982 with a stellar cast. Directed by Trevor Nunn and John Caird, "Nick Nick" became THE hot ticket during the RSC season that year. In fact, you needed tickets because it was shown in 4 hour tranches, and if you were really keen, you could see the whole eight and a half hours in one day with lunch in between. This I memorably did, and it is one of the most wonderful experiences I have ever had in the theatre. The standing ovation at the end showed how movingly this story of good triumphing over evil was portrayed. Do not miss this - it is a classic and you will enjoy every minute.
Really good dvd for giving understandable and easy explanations for all the positions. I would highly recommend this dvd.
For me this is - without exception - the best series yet. It is more offensive than the previous series (possibly more in the vein of South Park)but the characters are still as funny as ever.
HOWEVER...bear in mind that Fox have not included all of the episodes in the series so some hardcore fans may be a little disappointed.
So if you want to see Chris as a rock singer, Brian fight for his country and Stewie continue to be an evil baby genius who learns to love his Mummy, this is for you!
Anyone who loves Shia Labeouf will love this film. What a bright young star he is becoming, the new Tom Hanks. Anyway, the basic story is that your regular boy next door has an emotional blip after the horrific death of his father, and is under house curfew. He is bored and starts watching his neighbours, including the gorgeous David Morse, who seems to be enticing young girls back to his place ( I would go), and bumping them off. With the help of his BF, and the hottie next door he sets out to catch him, and redeem himself at the same time.
Buyer Beware! What does "Complete" mean? A lot of the special features listed as being present seem to be missing. I understand from other reviews that episodes are also missing. It would appear that it does NOT do what it says on the tin!
A fantastic end to what has been one of HBO's flagship programs for a long time. Once again James Gandolfinis' genius portrale of Tony Soprano is a joy to behold. This final 9 episodes ties up a lot of the loose ends from previous series.
Tony is still relishing his second chance at life, but his suspicions are growing ever stronger about the loyalty of his crew, Paulie, Silvio, Bobby and even Christopher are in the spotlight of suspicion and heads will surly role. This then is the perfect ending to the Soprano saga and refreshingly well written and produced, although the price tag is perhaps a little high for 9 episodes, Sopranos fans are never the less in for a bumpy fun ride to the end of the road!
This movie truly captures the essence of B movie, utilising every trick in the book to generate authenticity. The only thing that doesn"t fall in line with the old genre is cracking special effects, Bruce Willis being cool as you like and enough random violence to make Saw II look like an educational video on cleanliness. All in all a right cracker.
Entertaining, a great cast, a brilliant soundtrack and a stunning performance from Murphy who is unbelievably pretty dressed as a transvestite. Buy this just for his performance, as well as a hart-warming, dark comedy.
An absolutely astounding television mini-series which should have had a greater reception whilst on television. However no matter, you have a ten hour DVD to get through.
Based on the original book by Kathryn Wesley (which is just as good) we follow Virginia, her father,a dog (who is really a prince) and wolf who is romantically obsessed with Viriginia in their quest to save all the nine kingdoms. We come across witches, trolls, snow white fairies and lots of other references to fairy tales interweaved into a fabulous show.
Basketball is a hilarious movie about 2 unemployed bums that invent a game halfway between baseball and basketball. This movie features the south park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone, who appear as Joe "Coop" Cooper and Doug Remer, where their game, which started out as a front yard game, turns into a national sport. Here an owner of another team attemps to make as much money as possible by changing the rules. The movie is pure genius with its use of comedy and voices. You can clearly see from their performance why south park does so well, as the humour is taken straight out of the cartoon. A good watch for any south park or comedy fans, and highly recommended.
You dont often find Australian and humour in the same sentence. The Aussies just dont have that knack of being able to take the mickey out of themselves that the Brits are so good at. However, there are a couple of exceptions to that and in my opinion "Kenny" is one of them. Kenny is a really great bloke - you cant help but love the guy and the way he looks at life. His day to day life will have you laughing your socks off. Highly recommend this movie to anyone with a sense of humour, or a pulse!
Having never watched a Marilyn film before and having her put down as a "one-trick" pony that is a dumb blonde, I was taken aback with the acting ability of this lady. The quality of the films are excellent and the ten films give you an excellent insight into what an astounding actress Marilyn was. The documentary disc is a bonus and gives a real insight into how Marilyn really was on set and viewing her final uncomplete film.
Improvements in special effects and a greater sophistication in television over the passage of time has made Star Trek seem a lttle 'innocent'.
In actuality, this is the definitive version of the Star Trek franchise and, in that sense, cannot be bettered (only copied). It is more than a classic - it"s a worldwide phenomenon. Sure, the special effects are creaky in this first series, as were the sets and sexist costumes, but hey, this is the 1960s!
The series was made on a shoestring budget and was nearly axed after the first series (viewing figures were not big enough). In the UK, however, it was a huge hit (even in black and white, when first shown in the autumn of 1969 on the BBC) and remains the most repeated American made tv series in British television history (amazing when you consider that the BBC had to keep buying the syndication rights for each repeat package).
So why is the original Star Trek series so revered? For one thing, William Shatner must be a pretty good actor to pull off the role of Captain Kirk with the success he did and it is true to say that the series mostly succeeded on the quality acting by all of the cast and the palpable chemistry between the main characters. Bill Shatner and Leonard Nimoy (Spock) were to be the main characters, but it is interesting to note that the unexpected strong impact that DeForrest Kelly (Dr. Leonard "Bones" Macoy) had on the first season led to him (very quickly) to be written into bigger and bigger parts and he was ultimately elevated to equal main billing with Bill Shatner and Leonard Nimoy for the second and third series. Also, Star Trek had intelligently written scripts, but never set out to take itself too seriously. Unusualy for sci-fi, a quality orchestrated theme was used for the main title and incidental music, which went against the common standard of using cheap electronic music and sound effects for sci-fi programmes (like Dr. Who and many more of the time).
If so revered, why was it axed so quickly? Well, in America, Star Trek was not that popular. It was being made in parallel with Mission Impossible, which was in production in the adjacent studios at Desilu. Unlike Star Trek, Mission Impossible never went over budget and was immediately both a huge critical success and a wow with the viewing public (always being in the top ten of viewer ratings, whereas Star Trek never got higher than position 52!!!!!!!). As a result, Star Trek was axed after only 3 years whilst Mission Impossible went on for a further five years (seven years in total), with Leonard Nimoy moving across to join the series when Star Trek finished.
Also, Star Trek was a networked show, i.e. made, financed and shown on just one broadcasting station - in this instance: NBC (part of the Paramount company), so audiences were limited to only those in America who could receive NBC broadcasts.
After the show was axed, NBC decided to sell the Star Trek series as a package to smaller stations who could not afford to produce such shows themselves (the BBC was one such overseas station who bought the package) - this is called syndication: when enough episodes have been broadcast (usually 100 episodes) by the owner of the copyright (Paramount), they are then packaged as "second hand" shows and sold to other television networks who are, in effect, buying the repeat rights. This can be very profitable. As a result, many more Americans and a huge worldwide audience were seeing the series for the first time at a more sensible teatime slot (rather than the original NBC late night slot) and, as they say, the rest is history..........................
Of the 29 episodes in this Series 1, which ones stand out? Hard to say as they are all good, but perhaps the edge goes to:
04. The Naked Time
05. The Enemy within
10. The Corbomite Manoeuvre
14. The Balance of Terror
19. Tomorrow is Yesterday
25. The Devil in the Dark
28. The City on the Edge of Forever
GREAT STUFF!
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