UP- The best animated movie I've seen in years

There are some movies that I watch with huge expectations and they manage not only to meet my expectations but to exceed them. UP is one of those rare movies. I watched it yesterday in my local cinema which is still running and was surprised at how enjoyable it was. I am now an adult and had not seen a single animated movie for years but two Christmases ago I sat down with my younger siblings to watch Finding Nemo which I thoroughly enjoyed. In fact it got me into animated movies once more, since then I have made it my mission to watch as many animated movies as I can.
UP tells the story of Carl Fredrickson who had a dream to make a house on Paradise Falls, in South America ever since he saw a documentary on a man called explorer Charles Muntz. Carl started saving up to go there. That dream got sidelined because he got married to his childhood sweetheart and had to sacrifice his dreams for married life. Years pass and his wife is now deceased and his home of several decades is about to be torn down. It is at that point Carl decides to travel to Paradise Falls in his house. Along for the ride is a child called Russell who was under his porch at the time the house took off. Along their journey they befriend a talking dog and a rare bird who Russell names Kevin. Unknown to them someone is after Kevin and it turns out to be none other than explorer Charles Muntz who intends to become famous after capturing Kevin. Now not only does Carl have to reach Paradise Falls but also has to rescue the bird from the clutches of Charles Muntz The scene is set for a thrilling adventure and entertainment for all ages. The animation is superb beyond belief(my particular favourite moment is the scene when the balloons come out of the house when the house takes off,all those glorious colours). Not only is the animation superb but it is also pretty funny in places. On top of that it has a message about living your dreams and moving on. If that wasn't enough it also has a real emotional core to it which in my opinion most animated movies lack, that scene in which Carl lets his house descend from the skies almost reduced me to tears. UP is a real joy to watch and I soon got rid of my inadequacy being the only adult watching the movie without a child as I became lost in this glorious movie. I may get a lot of stick for this but I found it far far more enjoyable than Pixar's Wall-E. Completely unmissable.

My favourite movies from every year since 1980

1980: The Elephant Man, The Empire Strikes Back,The Shining,Raging Bull
1981: Raiders of the Lost Ark, Das Boot, For Your Eyes Only, Mad Max 2
1982: Gandhi, E.T., Fanny and Alexander,Blade Runner, Tootsie
1983: The Big Chill, The Return of the Jedi,
1984: The Terminator,Gremlins,Ghostbusters, Once upon a time in America
1985: Out of Africa, Back to the Future, The Breakfast Club
1986: Ferris Bueller's day off, Aliens, The Fly
1987: Dirty Dancing, Lethal Weapon, Empire of the sun, The Untouchables
1988. Dangerous Liaisons, Die Hard, Who framed Roger Rabbit, Cinema Paradiso, The Last temptation of Christ
1989. Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Ghostbusters, License to kill, Back to the future 2, When Harry met Sally
1990. Edward Scissorhands, Miller's Crossing,Goodfellas, Ghost
1991. Barton Fink, Terminator 2:Judgement Day, JFK, Thelma and Louise
1992. Batman Returns, Alladin, Reservoir Dogs,Unforgiven
1993. Jurassic Park, The Piano,Schindler's list, The Fugitive,Sleepless in Seattle
1994. The Shawshank Redemption,Pulp Fiction, Chungking Express, The Lion King, Forrest Gump, Four weddings and a funeral
1995. Goldeneye, Toy Story, Die Hard with a vengeance,Seven, The Bridges of Madison County, Apollo 13
1996. Trainspotting, Fargo, Mission Impossible
1997. Jackie Brown,Scream, Boogie Nights, Good Will Hunting,L.A. Confidential, Lost Highway,Gattaca, The Game
1998. Saving Private Ryan,The Big Lebowski,Lock,Stock and two smoking barrels
1999. Fight Club,Magnolia, Eyes Wide Shut, The Sixth Sense, The Straight Story, Being John Malkovich, The Green Mile, Toy Story 2
2000: Gladiator,Requiem for a dream,Memento,Snatch, X Men, Battle Royale, Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon
2001: Lord Of The Rings: The fellowship of the ring, Monsters Inc, Spy Kids, Donnie Darko,The Others, Mulholland Drive,Training Day
2002: Spider man, The Bourne Identity, Road to Perdition,City of God, LOTR: The Two Towers, Punch Drunk Love
2003. X Men 2, Finding Nemo, School of Rock, Love Actually,Oldboy
2004: Spiderman 2, Harry Potter and the prisoner of Azkaban, The Bourne Supremacy, Eternal Sunshine for the spotless mind
2005. Batman Begins, Brokeback Mountain, King Kong, Sympathey for Mr Vengeance,Munich
2006. Superman Returns,Casino Royale, The Departed, Little Miss Sunshine, The Prestige,Mission Impossible 2
2007. There Will Be Blood,No Country for old men,The assassination of Jesse James by Robert Coward Ford, Zodiac, American Gangster
2008. The Dark Knight, Iron Man, The curious case of Benjamin Button, Changeling,Gran Torino
2009: The Wrestler,Up, Adventureland,500 Days of Summer
(list still incomplete, will add more later)

Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince(a review from a non HP fan)

First of all let me say I am not a fan of Harry Potter at all(I have only seen the first three movies and haven't read all the books) therefore I was a bit skeptical about going to watch The Half Blood Prince. After watching it I am very glad I did. The Half Blood Prince thankfully seems to be a lot darker and more adult than the rest of the HP movies I have seen. I found the first two HP movies very childish so I greeted the change in tone with open arms. A couple of things about the movie did confuse me but that is hardly the film's fault, since I have not seen the previous two and some elements seemed to be a continuation from them. I was also surprised to see how different the actors look now, in particular Ginny Weasley. When I last saw in a HP movie she was a little girl and now there is a hint of romance between her and Harry Potter. I was also shocked by the death of headmaster Albus Dumbeldore, for fans of the books this would have been non surprise at all but I haven't read all the books. Enough of my rambling I thought it was a very good movie and definately worth the price of the cinema ticket. In fact The Half Blood Prince I may try watching the previous installments I haven't seen and await future ones with bated breath.

Jurassic Park(Spielberg)

Jurassic Park is a movie I hold close to my heart, I saw it in the cinema at the age of eight when it first came out and I was in absolute awe of it, till then I had seen absolutely nothing like it. Some movies I loved as a child I simply don't enjoy anymore(one example is Tim Burton's Batman) but there are some movies that I can still enjoy to this day,Jurassic Park is one of them. I caught it on TV around last year after not having seen it for years and realised why I loved it so much when it first came out.
Spielberg is an expert at tension, the scene where Tim and Lex are sitting in the car and the cup on front of the car starts to vibrate is an excellent scene. The final scene where they are in the helicopter on their way back and they see a bird flying through the sky is a excellent scene and is a reminder of how Dinosaurs have evolved since the Jurassic era. My love for Jurassic Park inspired me to read Chricton's novel and it's no wonder that the movie is so good when they have such excellent material to work from. It's a shame really that none of the sequels could match upto the original, I don't care for The Lost World but it has it's fan and No 3 I feel is quite underrated and whilst it is no classic is still a fun adventure yarn and it doesn't pretend to be anything else.

The Incredible Hulk(Bill Bixby- Lou Ferrigno)

Even though I was born a couple of years after the series finished I catch the reruns and used to absolutely love it and my dad used to tape them for me. For those who don't know it follows the adventures of Dr David Banner who experimenting on himself accidently exposes himself to a great deal of gamma radiation and hence the big green beast is born. Now whenever David is outraged or hurt he transforms into the green beast known as The Hulk. The Hulk is pursued by a reporter called Jack Mcgee who is under the wrong assumption that The Hulk is responsible for the death of David Banner when in fact David Banner is The Hulk. In my opinion it is Mr Mcgee's pursuit of The Hulk that really kept this show going and not run out of steam. At the end of each episode we would see David getting on a bus or hitching a ride and next week we would see him involved in another adventure. What I love so much about the show is how people injure or torture David run for their lives when he turns into the Hulk.
I have only recently purchased season 1 and 2 and currently going through them. What I have noticed that season 2 is definately a lot stronger than season 1. In season 1 The Hulk was trying finding it's feet whilst in season 2 a formula had been established. In season 2 David got to help troubled individuals. In The Killer instinct David helped a football player with anger problems, in Alice In Discoland he helped out a young girl with a drinking problem, in Ricky he helped out a dislexic kid etc. On top of the great storyline I think the theme tune deserves a very special mention. The haunting theme tune is the best theme tune I have heard to any show ever. It is a real shame that none of the big screen adaptations were able to do full justice to the legendary 70's TV show. TIH whilst an improvement on the Ang Lee still was nothing more than an entertaining summer blockbuster. It's a real shame that no TV channel has picked up the show and shown reruns of it because I for one would definately have watched it(although the Sci-fi channel did show it in the late 90's). TIH reminds me of a very pleasant childhood.

My review of the Indiana Jones series

Raiders of Lost Ark: I really cannot remember at what age I first watched it but it left such a impression that years on I am still a huge fan of it. As a child it was one of the most exciting movies I had ever seen. None of the sequels had the freshness Raiders had.

Indiana Jones and The Temple of Doom: From the orignal trilogy this has dated the most. The only saving grace was the casting of Bollywood veteran Amrish Puri(coincidentally this wasn't his first Hollywood he appeared in, he was also in Gandhi which was released a couple of years before. It does to it's advantage have one of my favourite Indy moment, the ropebridge sequence was masterful. One moment cannot save TOD from being an Indy misfire.

Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade: In my opinion the only sequel to come close to rivalling the orignal movie. There is the ingenious casting of former Bond Sean Connery who is excellent as Indy's father. Coincidentally Julian Grover appears as the villian and he is also associated with Bond because he came in For Your Eyes Only. What surprises me is twenty years after it's release and The Last Crusade is still thrilling movie that never fails to entertain me.

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull: In my opinion the indy series should have never been tampered and should have best been left as a trilogy. 19 years after The Last Crusade Indy returns but it's clear from the offset that the franchise has gone stale. The action sequences, which is what the Indy movies are famous I found rather boring. Add to that a poor villian in the form of Cate Blanchett. Shia Lebeouf lends Mr Ford a hand as Indy's son along with Indy's heroine from Raiders Karen Allen as his mother.
The only good thing to come from Kingdom of the lost skulls is that Temple of Doom is no longer my least favourite Indy movie. Now with the news that another Indy movie is in the making I have lost respect for Mr Spielberg who used to be one of my favourite directors. Although Kingdom was successful it received most negative reactions from fans of the orignal trilogy. My advice to Mr Spielberg is listen to the fans who have supported you throughout your career and made your movies successful.

My assessment of the Bond Books

I have been a Bond fan for 18 years yet until last year I had not read a single of Ian Flemming's Bond novels. After finishing the first one I was well and truly hooked on them. What I enjoy about the books is that they give me an more personal side to Bond that most of the movies don't do, in some books we get to see what he does when he isn't being sent on a mission. Here is my assessment of them.

Goldfinger- The very first Bond Book I read and it is quite flawed compared to the other Bond novels. First of all the golf sequence in the book in my opinion went on for far too long. Secondly the writing is quite messy in places, in particular the part where they break into Fort Knox. Still not that bad and is a worthwhile read but in my opinion the movie was far far better.

From Russia with love- This is easily my favourite Bond movie followed closely by On Her Majesty's secret service. What really works in it's favour is that it strays away from the Bond formula. FRWL involves SMERSH hatching a plan to disgrace England by getting them involved in a sex scandal. They send a girl named Tatiana Romannova to seduce the man, the target is the British spy James Bond. Bond doesn't turn up until the second half and the first half consists of SMERSH detailing their plan,which I found very engrossing. Apparently this was meant to be Flemming's last book because he wasn't happy with the sales figures of the Bond novels. He actually intended to kill Bond off in the last sequence. I prefer the book of From Russia With Love over the movie by a merry mile.

On Her Majesty's Secret Service- Yet another fantastic book by Ian Flemming. This was a far more personal Bond movie, it showed a far more human side to him that none of the books or the movies managed to do. The movie of On Her Majesty's secret service is also superb but I prefer the book slightly.

The Spy Who Loved Me- This Flemming book kind of surprised me, I thought it would involve a meglomaniac trying to create an underwater world but I got something very very different. Bond only turns up in the second half and the first half consists of a woman being harassed by two men.

Casino Royale- The first of the Bond books, Casino Royale is quite a good Bond Book. My problem with it is that it is quite descriptive and not enough thrills. But what it does succeed in is giving us an insight into the character of Bond.

(I will add more assessments of the Bond books as I read them)