"Battle: Los Angeles" and comic book DVD watching

We went to the cinema to see "Battle: Los Angeles" on Friday afternoon, while we were on a few days annual leave from work (back to work tomorrow!) The story is about a vast alien force invading the major cities of the world, so they can ultimately gain control of the Earth's water supply. This film concentrates on the fight between the aliens and US marines in downtown Santa Monica and L.A, and stars Aaeron Eckhart. I really liked the frenetic action scenes (the film is basically 1 1/2 hours of urban based battle carnage) which were thrilling, and the design of the aliens and their ships was interesting, as was the way they fought their side of the conflict. The visual effects were very well done and integrated nicely into the live action - great use of CGI. The shaky/naturalistic photography does take some getting used to though; definitely no steadicam on this set. After the first five minutes or so I warmed to this, and thought it actually suited the overall 'front line news report' style of the film. The cast of soldiers are quite stereotypical and the script won't win an Oscar in a million years, and there was one 'noble speech' scene that would have benefited from some editing, but generally I found the film exciting to watch on the big screen. I'll definitely pick this up to go on the shelf next to "District 9", 2009's breakthrough 'alien' film.

Funnily enough, I think this was the first time for a long while I've seen a newly released film on its first day *and* its first screening that day!

<--Here is a picture of the entrance to our local Odeon cinema, taken when we went to see "Battle: LA". As you can see, Odeon have become big fans of George Lucas' Industrial Light and Magic visual effects company (ILM)!

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In preparation for some big 'comic book' film releases this summer in the form of "Captain America" and "Thor", we've been watching some related films on DVD recently - "Hulk" last week, and "X-Men" and "X-2" over the weekend just gone. We have "The Incredible Hulk" on the way, and I want to pick up "X-Men: The Last Stand", "Spider-Man 3", "Iron Man" and "Iron Man 2" to plug those gaps in the collection. Most go shopping for some more bargains soon....

The Dark Knight

We went to see "The Dark Knight" yesterday afternoon at our local Odeon cinema, using the 'Orange Wednesdays' offer -- half price tickets -- woohoo! I've been following the amazing box office that the film has generated with interest, so I was really looking forward to it, especially as I enjoyed "Batman Begins" three years ago.

The film follows Batman's (and the Gotham police) continuing fight with organised crime. This time though, Batman/Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale) has to deal with 'The Joker', a mastermind criminal who has a fetish for chaos, played with a aplomb by the late Heath Ledger. The Joker shows insanity on the surface, but is always in complete control over the Mob.

The film features many exciting action scenes, such as the bank raid opener and the truck chase, and has some interesting plot twists. Gary Oldman was his usual dependable self playing Lt. Jim Gordon, and Christian Bale is always good, altough he did chew the furniture a bit with the 'deeeeeep voice' when dressed up as Batman. The dark sombre tone was ok, as it suits the characters.

I had some problems with the film though. I wasn't to happy with the editing in places, and I hated the makeup/CGI effects on Harvey Dent/Two-Face character: it looked too over-the-top, and for me it didn't fit in with the rest of the film's aesthetic as being 'as real as possible'.

Also, the film is too long. I think it could have been tightend and cut by about ten minutes. Some of the end sequence felt drawn out. Maggie Gyllenhall's character was pretty much wasted, and she certainly wasn't as appealing as Gwyneth Paltrow in "Iron Man" (which was a far better film and wow, she looked *great* in those lovely little pencil skirts!!)

Anyway, I enjoyed what was here, particularly Heath Ledger's performance, but it just wasn't the amazing epic I'd hoped for. I think I preferred "Batman Begins" actually. However, I do hope to see a third film, which I'm sure is on the cards from Warner Bros after this film has taken $800,000,000 so far!

Carla's comments can be found here. I love the point about Maggie Gyllenhall's hair!! haha!

Driving, Collectormania show, and Iron Man

I've just had my first week of driving experience. Not bad so far, although my parking skills remain rather suspect, but the actual driving is getting a bit better each day. I'm getting used to the gear shifting, lane discipline, motorways etc. I'm actually starting to enjoy it for the most part!

I'll have to photo our little KA soon, but it will need a wash first! It's starting to look a bit grubby, thanks to all that motorway travel I've done this week.

We went to the Collectormania show in Milton Keynes last Saturday and it was great fun, especially to drive there instead of relying on trains that don't run! It was really nice to meet (and get the autograph of) actress Nancy Allen, who I have adored since seeing her in films such as "Strange Invaders", "Dressed to Kill", and the "RoboCop" series. Lovely lady, really nice to chat to. I got some other bits and pieces at the show, and even got Carla some stylised elephant earrings! We met up with Mark, Paul and some others at the show, and after we had enough of going around the stalls we went to see 'Iron Man' at the flicks. A brilliant film with a great cast (I love Robert Downey Jnr. and wow, Gwyneth Paltrow looked ace!) and featured some great spfx: the sequence where 'Iron Man' tries to avoid the US jets was very exciting! We got to see the 'Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull' trailer as well. Good stuff, can't wait to see Indy back on the big screen.