2 needles in my arms in as many days
Now my last post commented on how painless the bloodtest was yesterday, vaccinations are not the same. It's quicker and less bleedy but my arm is sore and I may get a temperature. Still I shouldn't get flu, not that I've ever had it but i've heard its nasty.
Yesterday davegotsu and I had a double feature at the cinema.
First we saw Sky High at UGC, it was good but in a Disney sort of way. It's about a Superhero High School a nice, if cheesy, idea and a lot could be done with it. Possibly more could be done if it wasn't so obviously Disney and had a few less charcter stereotypes.
Good Points:
-It had some good superpowers, the main family only had flight and super-strength but there were others that had a lot of potential.
-Lynda Carter (TV's Wonder Woman) played the principal, this caused great amusement, especially one line towards the end.
-There were plenty of funny characters, especially the teachers. Of course most were in some way pathetic but that was their comedy.
-The bad guy had some unexpected points; it wasn't clear for most of the film what the major weapon actually did (though it turned out to be a strange US pun) and there was a refreshing change from the old avenging family members chestnut.
-When someone mentions people who get powers from radiation/toxic waste 'they either get their powers the next day, or they die.' I found this really funny because radiation poisoning doesn't seem to exist in comics and you start to wonder why more ppl aren't throwing them selves in the nearest toxic waste dump to become superhumans.
Bad Points:
-It's predictable: the beautiful and popular but bitchy girl decieves the protagonist and is mean to his real friends. The girl next door turns out to be the One. The angry emo kid who initially seems mean is actually just troubled but honourable and ends up being BFF with the protagonist.
-The loser 'sidekicks' are the real friends and help to save the day whilst the more talented people are utterly defeated.
-It seems that no portrayal of American High School is complete without caste system/cliques, usually its informal social groups (geeks, jocks, alternative, losers, etc.) in Sky High its a formalised part of the education, they school actually encourages sidekicks to be treated as subhuman. Apparently schools in US are actually like that and many programmes/films show why it's bad thing but it seems no one does a thing about it. I still think it can't quite be like that the media hypes it up, people don't exist that way.
-Everyone has 1 power only, some are generalised abilities that have many applications but there's only so much a person can do with just flight, or the ability to spit acid.
-It's very black and white, ppl are Good or Evil. Kids films don't have to be this way, see notes on Nanny McPhee below.
We went for tea at McDonalds about 6ish then wandered over to the AMC to watch Nanny McPhee.
It was great, funny and slightly dark for a U. Go and see this!! I liked and respected Emma Thompson before but she is a brilliant in this and she wrote the screenplay!
The kids aren't stereotypical and they aren't just small adults, they are naughty and do some pretty bad stuff (inc pretending to eat their baby sister), they've clearly just been allowed to become rebellious and, as they're children, no one expects ingenuity or cleverness from them. Most of the adult characters seem unable to handle children with intelligence.
Many of the adults are shown as being rather self-centred or distracted, they aren't bad they just have their own motives and preoccupations (like in real life) and this makes for a good story. The supporting characters are charicatures but they're funny and somehow quite real despite their exaggerated features, again this may be because of the shades of grey that were lacking in Sky High.
Nanny McPhee is a brilliant slightly creepy charcter who, literally, becomes more desirable/understandable as the film progresses. She could take Mary Poppins anyday!
The magic is allowed to exist without being explained or pinned down and there are no obvious attempts to show how special or mystical or unusual it is. There's no origin of the magic explanation-subplot and seemingly no limits on what it can do, and isn't that what makes magic mysterious and magical?
It's very British because the actors/characters are British and Colin Firth is great as the flustered, distracted widower being trying to control his children whilst being controlled by others.
There is predictability in the outcome of the main plot line but the routes taken to get there aren't obvious and it's a damn good ride along the way.
Mary Poppins says a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine down. Nanny McPhee would just tell you to take your medicine, and you would cos goodness only knows what would happen if you didn't!
x_equals_speed attempted to kidnap me today. I called for davegotsu, not very feminist I know but I did get carried through the Guild. Hee hee!
A woman on Kerrang found the fact that there were queues in Worcester amusing because the traffic was stuck up The Butts. Yes it is funny but I lived in Worcester too long to be amused, it's just the road by the bus station where they used to practice archery in olden times.
That was long but its been awhile since I did a proper film post.
Yesterday davegotsu and I had a double feature at the cinema.
First we saw Sky High at UGC, it was good but in a Disney sort of way. It's about a Superhero High School a nice, if cheesy, idea and a lot could be done with it. Possibly more could be done if it wasn't so obviously Disney and had a few less charcter stereotypes.
Good Points:
-It had some good superpowers, the main family only had flight and super-strength but there were others that had a lot of potential.
-Lynda Carter (TV's Wonder Woman) played the principal, this caused great amusement, especially one line towards the end.
-There were plenty of funny characters, especially the teachers. Of course most were in some way pathetic but that was their comedy.
-The bad guy had some unexpected points; it wasn't clear for most of the film what the major weapon actually did (though it turned out to be a strange US pun) and there was a refreshing change from the old avenging family members chestnut.
-When someone mentions people who get powers from radiation/toxic waste 'they either get their powers the next day, or they die.' I found this really funny because radiation poisoning doesn't seem to exist in comics and you start to wonder why more ppl aren't throwing them selves in the nearest toxic waste dump to become superhumans.
Bad Points:
-It's predictable: the beautiful and popular but bitchy girl decieves the protagonist and is mean to his real friends. The girl next door turns out to be the One. The angry emo kid who initially seems mean is actually just troubled but honourable and ends up being BFF with the protagonist.
-The loser 'sidekicks' are the real friends and help to save the day whilst the more talented people are utterly defeated.
-It seems that no portrayal of American High School is complete without caste system/cliques, usually its informal social groups (geeks, jocks, alternative, losers, etc.) in Sky High its a formalised part of the education, they school actually encourages sidekicks to be treated as subhuman. Apparently schools in US are actually like that and many programmes/films show why it's bad thing but it seems no one does a thing about it. I still think it can't quite be like that the media hypes it up, people don't exist that way.
-Everyone has 1 power only, some are generalised abilities that have many applications but there's only so much a person can do with just flight, or the ability to spit acid.
-It's very black and white, ppl are Good or Evil. Kids films don't have to be this way, see notes on Nanny McPhee below.
We went for tea at McDonalds about 6ish then wandered over to the AMC to watch Nanny McPhee.
It was great, funny and slightly dark for a U. Go and see this!! I liked and respected Emma Thompson before but she is a brilliant in this and she wrote the screenplay!
The kids aren't stereotypical and they aren't just small adults, they are naughty and do some pretty bad stuff (inc pretending to eat their baby sister), they've clearly just been allowed to become rebellious and, as they're children, no one expects ingenuity or cleverness from them. Most of the adult characters seem unable to handle children with intelligence.
Many of the adults are shown as being rather self-centred or distracted, they aren't bad they just have their own motives and preoccupations (like in real life) and this makes for a good story. The supporting characters are charicatures but they're funny and somehow quite real despite their exaggerated features, again this may be because of the shades of grey that were lacking in Sky High.
Nanny McPhee is a brilliant slightly creepy charcter who, literally, becomes more desirable/understandable as the film progresses. She could take Mary Poppins anyday!
The magic is allowed to exist without being explained or pinned down and there are no obvious attempts to show how special or mystical or unusual it is. There's no origin of the magic explanation-subplot and seemingly no limits on what it can do, and isn't that what makes magic mysterious and magical?
It's very British because the actors/characters are British and Colin Firth is great as the flustered, distracted widower being trying to control his children whilst being controlled by others.
There is predictability in the outcome of the main plot line but the routes taken to get there aren't obvious and it's a damn good ride along the way.
Mary Poppins says a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine down. Nanny McPhee would just tell you to take your medicine, and you would cos goodness only knows what would happen if you didn't!
x_equals_speed attempted to kidnap me today. I called for davegotsu, not very feminist I know but I did get carried through the Guild. Hee hee!
A woman on Kerrang found the fact that there were queues in Worcester amusing because the traffic was stuck up The Butts. Yes it is funny but I lived in Worcester too long to be amused, it's just the road by the bus station where they used to practice archery in olden times.
That was long but its been awhile since I did a proper film post.