Tuesday, 10 April 2012

Sci-Fi Blog Starts Now


I do not have a great knowledge of Sci-Fi films which is why my collage looks a tad basic.

The film ‘The Invasion of the Body Snatchers’ (which from now will be called ‘TIOTBS’) deals with the issue of a plant type that copies a person exactly and takes over that person's life, killing the original in the process. Whereas ‘The Invasion’ focusses its self with an alien bug that takes over a person’s body, repressing their personality until the bug has left.

The interesting fact is that, in my opinion, the only similarity is that a man and a woman are in danger but eventually one of them gets taken anyway. However there are several differences. The one that I find most intriguing is at the end of the films. In ‘TIOTBS’ at the end, the reassurance to the audience that everything is going to be alright is portrayed more subtlety. The people in charge say that they believe him and wonder away. Whereas in ‘The Invasion’ the entire horrible business is forgotten about as, handily, a doctor has invented a vaccine that restores everything to how it was before and the only people who remember it all are the people who lived through it.

One other thing that annoys me is in ‘The Invasion’ all of the main characters survive in perfect health. This is one reason why ‘TIOTBS’ is a better film because most of the main characters in that perish in the fight.

This is one example why Sci-Fi films have changed. In the fifties it was startling when any main character dies. It set a standard that at least a main character should die/perish/be eaten/fall of the Empire State Building in a film.

This is one reason why I have been on and on for years that the main characters should die. I’m not saying all of them but at least Daniel Craig for heaven’s sake! It would make the story so much more believable if people bitten by the bug died and poor Nicole Kidman had to mingle with these walking HALs until she and her son made to the army base.

The trouble is that Sci-Fi films have to unrealistic yet believable. The clue is in the title: Science Fiction. And that is one reason why the best science fiction film is Titanic. Think about it…

In real life the ship Titanic sailed bow first into an iceberg, it sank and hundreds of people died; fact. So that is the Science part: boat crash, boat break, boat sink. The fiction part is that Jack’s and Rose’s relationship never happened. Yes they were real people on the ship and yes Jack did die in real life but their relationship was entirely fictional thanks to Cameron and his production staff. Thus proving that Titanic is the best Sci-Fi film; one because the boat Titanic actually sank and two because it has a fictional relationship between two characters who never existed.

To prove that there is science in the film Titanic below is a video from the director of the film showing us an exact digital replica sinking in the very same way.


Themes found in ‘TIOTBS’ and ‘The Invasion’ are:
Science
Social Concerns
Humanity Vs Science
Dystopia

Here’s something that I just want to add, I say that a ‘Zombie’ apocalypse is impossible and people reply “how do you know?” Well I’ll tell you. With a basic amount of medical science and ‘evidence’ from the internet that these ‘Zombies’ have a much lower IQ level and find a basic, most sustainable food source they can (brains). In this case then would it mean that people with Down Syndrome, if their carer was taken away from them, would form this zombie-like quota? (Not eat brains obviously but a simple and abundant food.) Oh I’m sorry, to I prove your argument to be wrong? 
Such a pity.

For 'TIOTBS' the explicit fears are: Well being of himself, well being of his companion, well being of everyone, not being understood, falling asleep.
The implicit fears are: Society, what we will all become (drones doing nothing good).

For 'The Invasion' the explicit fears are: Society, cherished ones, constantly being watched, the demise of the world, how susceptible we are, will it happen again.

The implicit fears are: Society, what we will all become (drones doing nothing good), how susceptible we are.

Wednesday, 15 February 2012

I saw the Muppets...

Well today was the day that they lit the lights and played the music as I saw the Muppets film today.

As I sat down in the auditorium I had a great feeling that I had been ripped off. (But then again it was a well-known national chain.) I must admit I regretted going to that cinema (that rhymes with clue, as in ‘they didn’t have one’), I was extremely certain that I asked for a seat near the back in the middle. So imagine my delight when I read that my seat was A 1; which was in the far left at the back. So after I accepted the fact that maybe the girl behind the counter did not hear me correctly I begrudgingly took my seat and got stuck into my popcorn. That was also a disappointment. I only eat salt popcorn, that is why I got a large drink with a medium bucket of popcorn, however when I shovelled the first handful near my face (I am a messy eater) I discovered that I had been given sweet. Now would be the time to use a rage face.


So eventually after a multitude of adverts and a rather lengthy discussion with two annoying children who were under the age of five and their nonchalant grandmother the film started. In a nutshell the film was humorous and interesting enough to distract me from my strange thoughts of what did Kermit do/not do on his wedding night with Miss Piggy that made her run to France?

Oh now I get it!

The film involved an interesting addition to the cast by the name of Walter and his idiot brother Gary. (Jason Segel I kid!) I don’t really want to give much away but the story is essentially Walter and others going to Kermit and getting all of the Muppets back together. However of course there is an oil tycoon from a few movies back who tries to ruin it all for them and Miss Piggy has a major strop.

The film however rather disappointed me as it gave away all of the even chuckle-able jokes away in the trailers for the movie. (And I made a point of staying away of the film trailers before I saw this movie.) I’m not quite sure how his happened but I doubt that there was anyone to blame. I not going to say that it was Disney that watered them down or that the Jim Henson puppetry group have lost their edge. But I will say that a bad actor wrote the film script and that never works.

I will say however that there was a surprisingly good amount of hidden cameos. There was a wave of celebrities from both film and TV including such people as; Zach Galifinakas, Sarah Silverman, Micky Rooney, Whoopi Goldberg and my personal favourite Jim Parsons who made a surprisingly brilliant visual joke in a mirror.

Finally I want to talk about the songs. Although the songs were cleverly timed and well executed I cannot remember them for the life of me and that is what makes people remember a musical. Well to be fair I do remember one song which involves chickens dancing and clucking Cee Lo Greens ‘F**k you’. That was truly ‘awesome’.

So to conclude this was film was interesting and disappointing for a Muppets film. However none of that matters as The Muppets’ films have done and always will be classic films for the entire family to enjoy. (Especially me.)




Friday, 10 February 2012

Muppet movie TODAY!

Due to the new Muppet's movie being released in the UK today I have put a link in this video to the Jim Henson YouTube page. I am looking forward to seeing it soon.

http://www.youtube.com/user/HensonCompany?ob=0

Nick Broomfield

Nick Broomfield is a documentary style film maker and has been making films since 1971. He has made such films as Pround To Be British, Soldier Girls, Ghosts and Sarah Palin: You Betcha!

His documentary style films tell and explain events from the victim(s) view point, allowing the audience to grow and experience emotions with the characters.

The film Ghosts is a good example of this. In the film we side with a women called Ai Qin who comes to the UK to gain money for her family from China. She is forced to do bad work with a small amount of pay. She lives in terrible and over crouded conditions with over 15 others in Thetford and Morecambe. Eventually her life is in great danger in an over night cockling trip and she is one of the only ones to be saved. She is finally reunited with her family in China as most films if not all have a happy ending.

Friday, 20 January 2012

Box Office Releases 15th-22nd/01/2012

Here are the Box office releases for this week and the companies that have produced them.

  • Underworld Awakening, Sony Pictures
  • J.Edgar, Warner Brothers
  • X Night of Vengeance, Circle Films
  • Haywire, Relativity Media
  • The Sitter, 20th Centuary Fox
So from the above it is easy to see that the six majors do dominate the UK box office

Screen Yorkshire

Screen Yorkshire supports all of the interactive media, film, TV and video games made in the Yorkshire and Humber area. They also support other organisations that produce film in that area. Screen Yorkshire puts £5,700,000 back into the British Film Industry which 2% of the Industry’s net profit. This essentially means that more British Film classics can be made which entertain audiences all over the world. Such classics that Screen Yorkshire have either funded or produced include: This is England ’86, Red Riding, Tyrannosaur, The Dammed United and many more. So from that list it is easy to tell that their films convey the 70’s – 90’s England with a very melancholy feel. Tyrannosaur for example portays a more evil side of the human conscous. It shows the demise of one person when they have a mental breakdown and the lengths they go to redeem themselves.

Monday, 16 January 2012

Muppets Statistics

The new Muppets film has an estimated budget of £45,000,000. When it was first released in the USA it took $29,239,026 at the box office in one weekend and now has a gross profit of $85,561,195. And it is yet to be released in the UK until February the 10th.



Below is every intro to the Muppet show. EVER!