So this is the film based loosely, but not too loosely, on the book by Jon Ronson about the psychic arm of the American military. They are the men of the title, and they just so happen to stare at goats (Yes that’s Capra aegagrus hircus) and try to kill them.

The book is about the use of “New Age” techniques by the US military and how they could apply the paranormal for military purposes. It’s a very good book, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. The film takes the content of the book, the fun anecdotes and such, and puts them in to what is essentially a buddy/road movie with George Clooney, Ewan McGreggor, Jeff Bridges and Kevin Spacey.

Whilst the film and the book both start in the same place, an army general attempting to pass through a wall, they split there as the film changes the book’s author Jon Ronson for Ewan McGreggor’s Bob Wilton. Wilton is a newspaper reporter who is in Kuwait, trying to cross the border into Iraq. Whilst at the hotel he meets George Clooney’s Lyn Cassady and they go on a mission into Iraq. Laughs ensue as they get into and out of trouble, and the story of the Psychic Spies (Or Jedi as they are often referred to) is old in a series of flashbacks.

The Hollywood side of the plot is fairly predictable, and in parts quite boring, but the flashbacks to the First Earth Battalion and their crazy paranormal activities are just as fun and entertaining as they are in the book, even if the use of the Predator has been somewhat revealed in the trailers.

As you can probably tell I am slightly undecided on where to stand with this film. I enjoyed the book, and as such the “real” elements of the story are what I find interesting and the tacked on Hollywood storyline feels less than satisfying. The satire and dark humour give this film something, but that can feel dragged down by the predictable and boring nature of the story. Although I will admit that I took some enjoyment from Ewan McGreggor being taught how to be a Jedi. The man may not be too happy about being known for that role in that sci-fi series, but he is, and he can’t escape it.

This is a film, and films need to make money, so the hollywood-isation is understandable, and in some ways acceptable, so doesn’t fully detract from the fun that can be had watching men try to kill goats just by staring at them. It made me laugh and I did keep watching to the conclusion, even if I could see it coming like a brightly painted rhino.

fans of the book won’t be too disappointed, and there is a film in there to be enjoyed without looking too hard. So yes, by all means go and see it, and remember, some of it is more true than you may think, or want to think. Including the bit about Barney.

MTFBWY

The nice people over at MoretotheGame, who I seem to be plugging far too much, are thinking of bringing a new feature to their avid readers, and because they asked nicely, for once, I am going to join in. But because I’m evil, I’m going to jump the gun and post the article here, before they do, so you all get a sneak preview, and I get… well… not much really. The topic: What game should people play before they die. My contribution: Theme Hospital.

Theme Hospital

There are people who don’t like old games. They would see system requirements like 75MHz processor, 16MB of RAM and Direct X 5, and immediately return the game to the shelf to find the latest GTA, Call of Duty or Halo. Those people are fools and deserve to miss out on the greatness that these games have to offer. Others will pick it up and read the blurb which asks “Can you balance the books and the bedpans?” and decide that any sort of financial balancing act is beyond them. “Design maintain and manage a hi-tech hospital facility?” they would scoff, “Making the most of limited resources and turning cures into cash? Who do you think I am?” They chuckle to their equally idiotic friend. “You’ll be struck by the fun, if you don’t get struck off.” They will guffaw, put the game back in the wrong place and then go off to beat a prostitute over the head and claim that this is the best thing ever. They are fools and should be shot. Twice.

Now, whilst I don’t have a specific problem with GTA (even if the franchise is horribly dead), or CoD, which can offer some fun, even Halo, in all its horrendously overrated glory, can provide moments of fun, they do not bear comparison to the joy offered by a Bullfrog title like Theme Hospital.

Let me take you back to your childhood. When you were young and asked “What is it you want to be when you grow up?” you probably said “Batman” or “Wonder woman”, maybe “Princess” for some of the boys at the back, you might have said you wanted to be a fireman, or a vet. deep down, however, we all know what you meant. Really you wanted to be a hospital administrator. You always wanted the pleasure of choosing who to hire, you wanted to manage details like making sure patients had enough seating, you wanted to ensure you had fire extinguishers ready, enough heating to keep people warm. Make sure there were toilets and a staff room. All the little details. You wanted the chance to entertain visiting VIPs, impress the hospital board and get a promotion.

I can hear you all laughing. You think I’m crazy. There is no way that something like this could be fun. What is this silly man talking about? This isn’t a game I should be playing before I die. Well, the intro video will probably go some way to showing you that this game isn’t all about hard work.

(Video from Youtuber NHJBV)

If you think you are in for just simple diseases, think again. This is a 1997 Bullfrog game, it has humour. Diseases include Bloaty head (which needs popping), Invisibility, Slack Tongue (Which needs chopping off) and baldness (Yes there is a cure!). Your wonderful receptionist will ask people not to die in the corridor, keep their germs to themselves and, of course, telling the morgue patients to be quiet. Even hiring staff members can be fun when you read some of the personality descriptions provided.

There is depth to this game, varying missions, all with different requirements, chances to shoot rats between some levels, and trying to get one up on the other, computer controlled, hospitals, all with familiar names. There is a multi-player option, but that isn’t as easy as it sounds. This was a DOS game, and as such the protocols available in the multi-player patch (Serial Cable, Modem, and IPX/SPX) aren’t really available on modern PCs. There are some work-a-rounds, but none for the more recent OSs, at least that I’ve found. That’s no great loss, and the other patch, the one that makes people pregnant, is still alive and kicking.

So why do I want you all to run a hospital before you die? This game is funny. I don’t just mean that you will snicker a bit at people as you watch them use the toilet, I mean there is a layer of humour here that Bullfrog did well in the games of this era. The game play is great, the challenge really does grow as you progress, and the graphics, while not super-realistic, aren’t too shabby for a game that is now 12 years old.

There are no invading armies (except some rats), there are no guns (except for use on aforementioned rats), there are no prostitutes (at least as far as I know), no zombies (although people can die) and there isn’t and Hot coffee (although people can get pregnant), but this is game in many ways superior to GTA IV, CoD 4, Halo 3, and many other modern games.

This is Theme Hospital. On the PC not the PlayStation. This needs to be played before you die.

MTFBWY

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The original content of this post is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial-Share Alike 2.0 UK: England & Wales License. Any trademarks or copyrights relating to Theme Hospital, Bullfrog or EA are the property of the respective trademark and copyright holders. They are used under fair use and no infringing claims are intended.
Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available upon request, via email, to the author.

The British government’s Intellectual Property Office has recently made its commitment to “reshaping” the current copyright system clear, but in this reshaping has “simplification” just gone too far?

The goals of the government have been made fairly clear, they are that the copyright system should be simplified by asking rights holders to broaden their terms of use, allow non-commercial use by individuals legal without seeking rights holder’s permission, make the enforcement strategy less “muscular”, educate of the consequences for infringement and allow an organisation to licence all works in a category (music, photography, film etc.) whether or not the work is from a person signed up with that organisation or not.

Now, I can agree with the first point. simpler licensing is one reason I release both this blog, and the vast majority of my photographs under the Creative Commons licence (Attribution-Non-Commercial-Share Alike for this blog, Attribution on my Flickr). The re-use of these articles, and my photos, are fairly broad, and I also allow people to contact me if they want to use something outside of that scope. Simple and broad terms, however don’t always solve problems, as I will come to in a moment.

The last point, however, I disagree with completely. We currently have legislation in the UK that means you cannot transfer rights equal to that of the author to anyone else. What the government is proposing, however, is that a “collecting society or other organisation with significant representation” can licence all work of a specific body, even if the original author is not part of that society or organisation. In other words, someone else, who I don’t know, and don’t necessarily agree with, can choose a licence for my content. Simpler than the current system, yes, protecting an author’s work, I would question.

Let me now come back to the first point, and the second on the list, which is allowing personal use without the original author’s permission. You can say that because I publish content on the net, I am just asking for it to be stolen. We live in a world where people have copy and paste, and they don’t understand that what they are doing is wrong. This may be true, and the government intention to “educate” may well go some way to help this, but let me use my work as an example.

This blog has, on the left hand bar, a description of my Creative Commons Licence. This is displayed on every page, next to every post, you cannot miss it. It explains very clearly that the content is released by me, for use under certain terms. It’s not hard to see, it explains that if you want to use this outside the scope I can be emailed, and even gives my address. I recently sent an email to a site hosting content, posted by someone else, that came from my blog. Now, I have no issue with my work being spread, it would be ice to get an email saying it’s being used and where so that I know who is seeing what and where, but this posting breached my licence in several ways. It listed a certain forum (who I had already emailed regarding the article’s use) as the author, and it was not released under a similar licence. I emailed the site hosting this content and asked for clarification of these issues. They chose to remove the article and we all went on with our business.

Now this may seem like a grumpy guy demanding his content isn’t used badly. Whilst this may be slightly true, I didn’t request the article be removed, I asked that the credit be corrected and a Creative Commons Licence notice be made. I also had a problem with the fact that I discovered this through a Google search, and not an email from the person who posted the content.

My photos also suffer from some problems. The government commented on how sometimes images can be difficult to identify. My Flickr account gives my name, allows people to contact me via a Flickr message, a photo comment or email, and clearly states the image licence. Whilst I occasionally receive emails or messages asking to use my photos on X site or Y site, the way I usually find my content is via a “Google alert” I have set up. Usually I have no problem with the use, besides the occasional credit to “Nick Stone”. I usually do my best to contact the site owner, or whoever is using the content, to have the name corrected, although this is sometimes not possible.

The government would like to remove the need to seek permission to seek permission for “personal non-commercial use”. As most people seem to ignore this clause anyway, why bother. I licence my content so that people can use my content how they like, if someone objects to this, why should that need to change?

I like to know what my content means to people. I like to know how my content is being shown, and most of all I like to know that people like what I do. I can’t do that if the only thing I see of my work is an email from google saying that a guy called “Nick Stone” is being credited somewhere, like a Discovery Channel blog, because I know that not even Google will show me everyone using my content.

A further change regarding the use of “orphaned” works, with no identifiable author is being considered to allow, for commercial use without credit, and work that the publisher “could not find” the author for, because somewhere like Facebook has stripped the Meta Data. I would just like to say “no” and save that rant for another day.

So yes, “simplify” the copyright law, educate people, but don’t do it if this means a bad deal for people who work hard to generate content. Oh, and people like me who don’t work so hard. Remember guys, if you want to re-use this post, send me an email, it makes me feel loved.

MTFBWY

My Sunday trips to the cinema are always quite fun, I do like to keep up with some of the more entertaining films out there, and share them with you all, of course. This week I was torn between the new CGI 9 and the new Wes Anderson, stop-motion, film adaptation of Fantastic Mr. Fox. I sought advice from the nice people at MoretotheGame, where my film reviews are cross-posted on Saturdays, as to which I should see. They said Fox, so Fox it was. I’ll either catch 9 on my day off this Tuesday, or next Sunday. Probably Sunday. Enough rambling on though, let’s talk Fox.

Wes Anderson has often given us cartoonish characters in his films, take The Royal Tenenbaums for instance, so for him to bring us a stop-motion children’s film is hardly surprising. Although whether this is a children’s film at all I would question. Certainly there are many elements for children to enjoy, it is based on a Roald Dahl story after all, but to class this as a children’s film would seem a bit strange. Jokes about existentialism, Jarvis Cocker songs and a lot, and I mean a lot, of talking, none of which seem to make for a kid’s film, much more an animated Wes Anderson film.

Now, for those following me on Twitter reading my 140 character reviews as well as these, it may seem that I do these reviews, purely to confuse people, but I don’t. I simply prove that it’s hard to say everything in such a limited space. I said, in my 140 characters, “Fantastic Mr. Fox: Roald Dahl’s classic tale with more than a hint of America added. A good film, well voiced, and beautifully animated.” And that is true. It is a good film, and it is well voiced by talent like George Clooney, Meryl Streep, Bill Murray and Michael Gambon and the stop-motion, especially amongst all this CGI animation, is great. There is, however, not room in 140 characters to add “This is, however, a Wes Anderson film, not just a kid’s film.” And I wish there was.

Let me compare this film with the modern stop-motion masters that are Nick Park and Aardman. One thing this film does is prove that it isn’t just Aardman’s choice of animation style that makes the likes of Wallace and Gromit great. Aardman make films that work whether you are 7 or 70, and some added years either side as well, and the whole gap in the middle. This is because they know how to make the visual comedy work, and give wordy jokes are never too wordy. Fantastic Mr. Fox, however, has concentrated on aiming the look of the animation for kids, and hoped they won’t be paying attention when the fox says things like “comme ci, comme ca”.

It’s a good film. It does drift away from the original, adding just a little bit too much of the states to Buckinghamshire, even if 2000 individually labelled tins is impressive, the context isn’t quite right, it is more of an animated Wes Anderson film that an animated kid’s film from Wes Anderson, but the sound track is there, the voice talent is great and the visual style is spot on. So whilst any 7 year-olds thinking about going to see Fantastic Mr. Fox, who almost certainly aren’t reading this, may well be disappointed, any people who know what existentialism is, who would understand a Jarvis Cocker cameo and like Wes Anderson films, would probably leave happy.

And finally, I have a suggestion for how Wes, who also probably isn’t reading this, could have improved this. Take a page out of the book of someone who can do dark as well as kid friendly, like the Grimm fairy tales. Someone like Roald Dahl.

MTFBWY

I’ve promised a post on my view of the Star Wars Expanded Universe before, and so I am now here to deliver. I touched on what I thought in my post about Death Troopers, but here goes the real, full on, entirely too long and almost thoroughly pointless rant that you have all come to expect from when I make a blog post.

For those not that well versed in what the Expanded Universe, either those new to Star Wars fandom, fans not entirely up on the lingo, or people who compulsively read every blog post I make, aren’t Star Wars fans and seem slightly confused, allow me to explain. The Star Wars universe is split into two (maybe three or four) camps. We have the OU, the Official Universe. Anything with the official George Lucas Seal of Approval, so that’s the six films, The Star Wars Clone Wars animated TV series, the upcoming Live Action TV show, the Official Film Novelisations, the audio dramas, and all that jazz. The Expanded Universe is, in effect, all the comics, books, and other officially licensed, but non-George Lucas’d, Star Wars things. You can then also add into that the “Infinites” things which fit into an “Alternate Universe”, AU, and then there’s the “Fan Universe”, no I will not abbreviate that, which is non-licensed, fan-made stuff that people just felt like making so they could play in the Star Wars Universe.

Now that’s sorted, let me explain the ongoing problem. The Star Wars Universe is huge. There are almost uncountable books, the films, the TV shows, the audio dramas, the comics, and all the other stuff, all telling stories in the Star Wars Universe. All of this stuff in the EU can sometimes cause problems. I mentioned a rift that occurred, in a previous post, when there was an alleged “change in cannon” and a certain writer pulled out of writing Star Wars books, because Lucas Film printed a guide that changed certain things the writer had written. This sent ripples throughout the fan community and caused a rift. Those who felt betrayed because they had invested time in these books and Lucas Film had just gone and changed it meaning they had “wasted their time”, and others who felt that if Lucas wanted his universe to have a certain fact, then that was his right as the maker.

George himself has admitted that he doesn’t have time to keep up with all the books, comics etc. and as far as he is concerned, all that he knows is what is in the films and TV shows, and that is all that is true to him. He has his plan, it’s all been written out for many, many years, and that is what is true. Yes we have the encyclopedias, visual guides, the online databank and Wookieepedia, but Lucas is a busy man, he can’t keep up with it all, and I doubt there are many fans who can.

These books come so thick and fast it’s difficult to know what’s happening. I try to keep up, I know enough to get by, but I can;t even pretend to know it all. The thing is, I know where I can go to get an answer, there are many places, but is being able to find an answer, that relates to a single line, from a comic, really an answer?

Did Boba Fett die in the Sarlacc Pit? Did Darth Maul come back as half robot? Did Han and Leia get married? Did they have kids? When, where and how did Chewbacca die? All of these questions have answers in the EU, I can even give you them off the top of my head. They weren’t, however, spelled out by Lucas. So do they count? More importantly, do they matter?

I recently read Death Troopers. I loved it. It is, quite simply, the most fun I’ve had reading an EU book for a long time. I loved it so much I’m currently listening to the audio book. The thing with this book is that whilst there are links to the movie trilogy, you don’t need to be a Star Wars fan to love the book. You don’t need knowledge of the Expanded Universe to enjoy it. It is a fully stand-alone book, and most importantly, it isn’t boring. The EU, of late, has become so bogged down in providing unnecessary detail in the books, stretching what could be a quick back and forth between two people, driving the story forward, into in-depth psycho analysis of the characters, dragging the book out, and boring people.

I know some people love that, and don’t let me tell you not to, I know you won’t, but for me, it is pointless, bloats the story, pretty much symbolises the EU in general. It was easy in the early days. A few books to go with the films. Padding out a bit of detail, but now there is so much, coming so fast, that if anything it makes the Star Wars universe too big.

So much of the EU now intertwines that you can pick up a book and find you need to read another book, but to get that you need another one, and so on and so on, and this can put a lot of people off. It’s put me off to a certain extent as well. More standalone books like Death Troopers would be nice. More fast-paced, less intricate-detail-oriented books, like Death Troopers, would be nice.

Books that really make me get involved with the characters, make me want to go back and watch the films, make me want to keep turning the page ’til I’ve finished, that’s what I want from the EU, and that is what Death Troopers has delivered.

The thing is, none of this is important. I can say all of this, tell you that I don’t care what the books say, until GL says it, it’s not true, but if you enjoyed the book, does it really matter? That there is what I think of the EU. It may or may not be true. It may just be true from a certain point of view, but if it’s a good book, then who cares. If it’s a boring book I don’t care if it’s all canon and I learn what Yoda’s species is, if it’s boring, it’s a bad book.

And that is my rant on the Star Wars EU. Which was a bit of a cop-out really. Real waste of time. Why are you still reading? Go find something better to do. Read a book or something.

MTFBWY

Other People. You know who I mean. The ones who aren’t you. They fill your lives, they’re all around you, and wherever they go they come along. These other people are really annoying and they ruin everything. I had never quite realised how much I hate these people until I was sat in the cinema about to watch The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus (review here).

Now, I don’t usually have a problem with cinema audiences. Occasionally you get that group of teenagers who talk, or the odd phone ring, but today was something else. imagine the scene. I open the screen door, walk in and hear “Hey, Tom,  is that alcohol”, then Tom responds “Yes it is.” Now, that isn’t necessarily a bad thing, alcohol is sold in French cinemas (bonus points for knowing which film tells us that) and that doesn’t ruin the experience. And there was only one can of cider here, so that wasn’t terrible. Despite being teenagers this group were quiet, so not too bad. There was a limited choice of seating already, so I selected my seat, and sat.

This may not have been a wise choice of place to sit, however, as I was treated to a wonderful, loud, conversation from the boy and girl behind about what the girl had done that… excited… some other boy. Whilst the film had not yet started, and talking was still acceptable, I am not particularly interested the activities of teenagers that lead to sexual arousal of other teenagers, nor am I interested when they launch into in depth discussions of their relationships.

Thankfully my distaste for the ongoing discussion behind me died when the lights dimmed and the trailers rolled. thankfully the conversations ceased and I was ready to enjoy the film. Then a very distinctive smell hit my nose. Someone one row in front of me was eating. They were eating a sandwich from subway. As you all know the smell of subway’s sandwiches can be very distinctive, and they spread everywhere. This happened, and I was surrounded by the smell for the entirety of the trailers.

With the smell fading and my anger relenting the trailers for upcoming movies began. At this point I was blinded by the iPhone owner in front of me as he took his phone from his pocket, screen on full brightness, to answer a phone call. It was only short so I assume it wa “Sorry, can’t talk now, in the cinema annoying everyone around me.” However he then chose to blind us all again as he loaded the bright white text message screen, still on full brightness, and preceded to type a message.

Some people even chose to enter the cinema when the lights were dimmed and the title screens were running and, as they all needed to sit together, caused trouble as people had to move to accommodate their late arriving selves.

The film began, the iPhone was gone, the sandwich smell had died away, and the discussion of male arousal was but a distant memory, and I was happy. During the film some light appeared throughout the cinema, though I must congratulate Mr. iPhone for leaving his alone. There were laughs at personal conversations from some teenagers off in the darkness. Some person behind me chose to drop their phone and give a running commentary on their hunt for it.

So all in all, today’s audience chose to discuss things in public that should be left in private, ate smelly food, used phones during the film, arrived late and demanded seats they wanted, and were generally annoying. Now, I don’t get annoyed that easily, but in this case I made an exception. My next visit to Nottingham’s Cineworld will see me carrying a gun.

Please remember people, a cinema is sacred ground, when you go there, don’t be idiots.

MTFBWY

This post comes in two parts, first this, my wonderful, glorious, brilliant and over-hyped review of The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, the second is my wonderful experience in the cinema. This is the important this one, the second one is the rant you all wish you could make.

The story of Parnassus, for those who wish to know, is of an old man, his daughter, a dwarf and an apprentice who take a travelling show around London. The main part of this show is a magical mirror which takes the participant to the land of their dreams, whatever their imagination can give them. Parnassus has made a series of deals with Mr Nick, or The Devil to his friends. As part of this deal Parnassus stands to lose his daughter on her 16th birthday, a date getting very close. One stormy night, whilst riding through London the group find a man who is hanging from underneath a bridge. He joins the group, and begins bringing more business to the Imaginarium. The devil then offers Parnassus a last chance to save his daughter, the doctor hopes that Tony, their new member, will be able to help here.

Firstly, let’s introduce the elephant in the room. His name’s Jim. As you can see he’s well trained and loves peanuts. He even does this really cool dance. Oh.. sorry… what I meant to say was: Heath Ledger died during filming, and so the production was left with a problem. Terry Gilliam didn’t want to go on, the cast weren’t enthusiastic, the film was half finished, and no one could fill Heath’s shoes. It was, however, decided that Heath’s last film needed to be seen, and so some calls were made. One person couldn’t fill the role, but three could. Heath’s friends, Johnny Depp, Colin Farrell and Jude Law were called upon to replace Heath. This could have been bad, this could have been done in such a way that ruined the film. If anything it made the film work on a new level. If you went into the film not knowing why the actors changed, you’d easily think it was planned.

With that said, let’s not forget the performances of the other actors in the film. Whilst Terry’s films have flaws, they give brilliance in ways that no other film maker can give. The acting from Christopher Plummer as the monk-turned-doctor and Tom Waits as Mr. Nick is wonderful. The film is saved in many places by Lily Cole, and the python-esque policemen had me laughing.

I always enjoy a Gilliam film, yes there may be moments when you think the film can’t come back from something particularly bad, but then Gilliam’s brain throws in something that does the impossible. Therein lies the greatness of Terry. He has a mind like no other, and what glimpse we get of it on screen proves that he is, undoubtedly one of the film makers of our time.

I’m not entirely sure if this plot actually ended. It stopped, started and went down so many different side alleys that it’s hard to tell, but that’s what you have to expect. There are flaws, some of them gaping, but it’s a brilliant film and I loved it. You have my wholehearted recommendation to watch this film.

In fact, as Tideland was a different film the second time, I suspect this will be too, so I will be seeing this at least one more time. Maybe you should watch it twice as well.

MTFBWY

I’m not a big fan of the cinema version of 3D films, even though we have progressed from red/blue glasses to the sunglasses look, but there is, of course, another problem. When a film leaves the cinema that’s not the end, we have the DVD release, that brings a new problem in. How do you give someone, at home, the cinema experience of 3D.

Coraline Film Poster

No one can recreate the cinema in their own home. I’m sorry all you people with “home cinemas” and the like, but it isn’t a cinema. You don’t have the screen size, the projection power, or the popcorn, and you can’t make it 3D properly. That is the problem that Coraline’s DVD release faces. Of all the 3D films that have hit, Coraline was, by far, my favourite. Not necessarily the best film released in 3D, Up probably wins that battle, but the one that used 3D the best. The 2D version lost nothing, and the 3D added little, but it gave me a bit of hope that maybe, somewhere, 3D could do good. Then I saw what was actually happening with 3D films and realised that the Coralines would be few and far between. Very far.

The film was well worth watching again, so I picked up the DVD today. It came as a 2 disc set, one with the 2D feature, plus some bonus features and one in 3D. I thought I’d throw caution to the wind and watch it in 3D, but my hopes of greatness were squashed the moment I saw the four pairs of glasses included with the DVD. I would not be watching in great style, looking like that guy off CSI, they were purple and green. Oh well, I thought, maybe they aren’t as bad as the 3D glasses of my youth. Maybe the colours will still look great, maybe I won’t get a headache, and maybe, just maybe, the 3D will work. After about five minutes, the headache had set in, the colours, or lack thereof, were annoying me, and it really wasn’t worth the vague 3Dness. So I took out the DVD and put in the 2D version so I could enjoy the film.

There is the problem. You can give us these films in 3D, you can hope we take the bait and watch them in the cinema and then you give us the DVD. It was heralded as “Real 3D” in cinemas because we finally had the technology to make things look “really” 3D. But we don’t have that home capability, at least not mass-market. That is the curse of Red and Blue or, for Coraline, Green and Purple.

Coraline has gone from a film that gave me a small glimmer of faith in cinema 3D, to a film that kills any hope of home 3D. It doesn’t work. It won’t stop the onslaught of DVD releases of “3D films”. It won’t mean we only see good ol’ 2D DVD releases. Studios will still throw them out. We will have a steadily growing pile of film-branded 3D glasses from our DVDs, and we will all have a lot of headaches.

3D adds nothing, or at most very little, to a film. A bad film in 2D does not become a good film when you add a dimension. A good film doesn’t become great. A good 3D film ported to DVD doesn’t stay good, it gets worse. Hopefully when people see that this horrible craze of 3D films will die.

Or, at least, I can hope.

MTFBWY

10:30am on a Sunday isn’t my usual slot for watching a film, I normally go for a nice afternoon showing, but clearly when you have a specialist taste such as I clearly do, you have to expect films consigned to the death slots. My clearly niche film this time? Up. Yes, the new smash hit from Pixar, well new in the UK. That’s hardly an independent film or small film, I hear you cry. You are correct, I respond, but I wanted to see it in 2D.

Now I know a few people will berate me for this, some already have, but to me 3D is a pointless addition to films. I see no point in paying that bit extra for some silly glasses, a headache, and a gimmick that adds nothing to my viewing pleasure. But this is a review of a film, not of 3D Vs. 2D, so let me continue.

Up tells the story of an old man who has a dream. He ties helium balloons to his house to try and fulfil this dream. He wants to take his house to South America, somewhere that, as a boy, his childhood hero explored, a place that really captured his imagination. After take off, however, he discovers an accidental stow-away, a young boy looking to earn a badge for helping the elderly.

Everything that Pixar touches turns to gold. We have seen it all the way from Toy Story to Wall-E, stopping off with the Incredibles and Monsters Inc. along the way. Pixar adds something special to their films, and Up is no different. From the montage at the start you can tell that whilst this is clearly a comedy there will be moments when you don’t laugh. Disney had the belief that for every laugh, there should be a tear, and this film holds onto that and does it well. In all great comedies there are moments of sadness, but they need to be balanced, and balancing films is something the guys at Pixar do so very well.

It’s not just the happy and sad moments that Pixar balance, it’s the way they treat adults and children. Up is a kid’s film, but there are things in there that the adults can take out. Not in the easy way that some films use of throwing in references to other films that only adults will get, but by throwing in jokes that work on different levels for different people. Being subtle with certain things so that the adults will take away the meaning and the kids won’t be traumatised.

Directed by the same man who brought us Monsters Inc., Pete Doctor, and co-directed by, for the first time, by Bob Peterson the film has, as all Pixar films tend to, a touch of the same and a splash of the new. That is something else about this film. At a time when we have so many young leading roles, albeit with Rambo, Indiana Jones and Rocky getting older, we have a film which has two of the leading characters as old men, and a youngster who isn’t smarter than them.

The voice cast give what you need in an animated film, and I don’t just mean noise, and the animation is, as always, well done and brings the whole film to life. The colours, as with Finding Nemo, Monster Inc. and so many other animated films, is of great importance to the film, and central to my final point.

You should go and watch this film, it is funny and touching, it is great for the whole family, but you should watch it in 2D. You don’t need things coming off the screen to bring you into the story, and you don’t need the glasses taking the edge of this wonderfully created colour and animation.

Another truly brilliant film from Pixar. Not quite my favourite, Wall-E holds that spot, but close. Not just for the Star wars bit in the credits either.

MTFBWY

The book isn’t out on shelves everywhere yet, but I managed to pick up a copy in one of my favourite London stores last week and finished reading it earlier today. A spoiler heavy review hit in early September, but this was a book I wanted to read to know about. I’m not a big EU reader. I didn’t give an exact comment on my EU stance in one of my previous posts, and I will come back to that at some point, probably, but I will say that whilst I have knowledge of what goes on in the EU, I don’t follow it intently. I don’t buy every book and digest it, and let’s be honest, on a student loan, I can’t afford to, but if something out there catches my eye, I will normally pick it up. That is how I picked up on Death Troopers. The first Star Wars horror story (No prequel jokes please).

Death Troopers Cover

Zombie books, zombie comics, zombie films and zombie games. None are particularly hard to find at the moment, and some are better than others. But what happens when you take a book set slightly before the events of Episode IV (officially labelled as 0 BBY) throw in some unknown characters (and two you do know, but who shall remain nameless) and put zombies into it. Well, then you get Death troopers.

I take a general no-spoiler stance on this blog with all of my reviews, and that is how I shall remain, but I generally consider the contents of the cover blurb OK to use, but should you feel differently and don’t want to know anything at all about the plot, skip this bit. As for the rest of you, the story starts on an Imperial prison barge, Purge, which loses power on its trip to a prison moon. They come across what appears to be a derelict star destroyer and send a part aboard to scavenge parts to fix the thrusters. Only half of the team return, and those that do bring with them a terrible illness. But the 99.7% fatality rate is only half the problem. It’s when the 99.7% come back to life and try to eat the remaining 0.3% that the trouble really begins. The six survivors of the prison ship, two are teenage brothers, one is the captain of the guards, one is the medical officer and two people I’m not naming fight their way to the derelict star destroyer to make their escape. However the 10,000 dead on the Destroyer are about as dead as those from the Prison barge.

OK, you can all come back now. The book is well written. People may say that it brings nothing new to the “zombie genre”, but when you put them in a galaxy far, far away, it’s new. The story is told very well and in such a way that you feel a real connection to the characters, and not just to the ones you already know. I’m a big fan of The Walking Dead, the ongoing zombie comic series, which has, over the months and years, has built up a way to really connect with the characters, this book had 322 pages of story to do the same, and succeeded. Death is inevitable in zombie stories, and with a cast of unknowns you have no guarantees who, if anyone, will make it. But when the inevitable happens, or doesn’t happen, it is has a punch and you feel it.

For me Star Wars is the films, and now the clone Wars TV series, that is the canon, that is the real. But it doesn’t matter whether or not you want to acknowledge the existence of zombies in the Star Wars universe or not, this is a good book. I enjoyed reading it, and to me that means more that whether this is “canon” or not. I talk a lot about whether something with the Star Wars name is or isn’t “Star Wars”. For me this book is, and I thoroughly recommend you read it.

There is, however, one thing that isn’t “Star Wars” about this book, and that’s that it really isn’t for kids. Remember that before you think that a Star Wars horror book couldn’t be that bad to use as a bed time read for your younglings.

Death Troopers will be available from all good book retailers (and some bad ones) on October 13th. In the UK I suggest Forbidden Planet (paperback, International shipping also available) as it ships before Amazon (UK paperback) which waits til 5th November. Amazon US (Hardback) however releases on the right day.

MTFBWY